The new digidestineds
by Akasha Rose
Summary: Summer has started and so has summer camp. What happens when a portal opens to the digital world sending a group of nine kids to the new world. What mysterious things will they encounter? Please R&R and tell me what you think. AU.
1. Summer camp from hell

**Disclaimer: I don't own digimon. I only own Yumi, Victoria, Kisho, Yukito, James, Mark, Tora, and Robert. I also don't own Danielle and Vlad from Danny Phantom. I also don't own Kiva, she belongs to San Child of the Wolves**

**A/N: Okay the story is based from the first season; I wanted to switch the characters around to make it into my own. Yes it follows a basic general view of the show I don't mean for it to. It's not word for word it is changed around and some things are added. Unlike in the show, Wizardmon does have a digidestined and there are nine instead of eight. Not trying to ruin the story I just want to explain everything so no one starts to freak out on me. Hey everyone, letting you all know if you get this again, I'm rewriting the first two chapters, I needed to add somethings to the story and fix some mistakes.**

Chapter one

Summer camp from Hell

The sun shone brightly thought the window of the high apartment buildings in Odaiba. On the twenty-fifth floor in a large bedroom standing beside a bed with an open suitcase was a young girl of twelve wearing a knee length black and red skirt with a flower belt and a black and red-stripped tank top with off the shoulder sleeves. The spaghetti straps tied around her neck. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail; red streaks could be seen through the black.

Her name was Yumi Yamamoto; she was preparing to go to summer camp that her mom was forcing her to go to. The two of them never really saw eye to eye that much since the move from their old place. She felt since that was happening this was one of the reasons why Hitomi (Yumi's mom) wanted her out.

While she was packing away a few of her clothes and books, she was talking with her close friend Victoria Sato by headset phone. Victoria was the same age as Yumi with an inch between them. As a young child Victoria saw more foster parents than she did her own mother after she gave up. Victoria now lived with her new adoptive parents Akima and Yamato. Both were complaining about the whole trip each parent was forcing them to go to.

"I still can't believe we are being dragged to this, I rather be at school writing an exam or hanging here and not actually interacting with other kids," complained Yumi as she folded her pair of jeans and placed them in the suitcase.

"I hear you, Akima is not giving me a choice in the matter, I have to go if I like it or not. She actually threatened me she would come with me on the bus and actually go to the camp site if I refused again," Victoria replied, footsteps sounded in the room. Victoria was one of those people where she would call Akima by her first name if she was ticked off at her or she didn't have things go her way.

"Oh gods, please tell me you're kidding me."

"I wish I were. So I basically kept my mouth shut to keep from dealing with the embarrassment of Akima coming with us. I'm reluctantly agreeing to go on this thing, thank gods I'm going with you. Promise me you won't leave my side during this entire trip."

"Done deal!"

Yumi paced back and forth in her room constantly grabbing more clothes or books or kept thinking she forgot something. She finally stood in the middle of the partially messy room and looked around confused.

"Hey Victoria are you bringing that black bag of yours? The carrier one?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, why are you not?"

"I am, it's just the problem that I can't find it," Yumi responded turning on the spot.

"Please tell me your room is not a mess again."

"Oh no, but it's going to be if I don't…ah ha, never mind found it, I'm just blind."

"Very smooth Yumi."

"Have you gotten hold of Kiva yet?" Yumi asked placing the carrier bag on her bed.

"She emailed me earlier saying that she would rather killer herself now than deal with this shit. But she prefer to get out of the house for the two weeks."

"Has she said anything more about her reasons behind her wanting to be away from her house?"

"No, I'm not going to ask her. If she wants to talk she will," Victoria replied grimly. Kiva had been their friend for four years, and they only knew pieces of her past, mainly that she refused to speak, and that her father had died in a car accident.

Yumi could hear footsteps coming from Victoria's place; she knew that Victoria would still be gathering everything. Yumi picked a few things off the ground to put away in the drawers. As she was doing that, Victoria started to talk again.

"Oh I tried to talk Akima into allowing me to go to that art camp, the one where you can express yourself."

"There was what?" Yumi asked slowly lifting her head up from the suitcase and stared into space, horror written on her face.

"You didn't know? I'm surprised. Well any way, I begged Akima to let me go, but she refused."

Yumi placed the final pieces into her suitcase with a sigh as she fell back on her bed. Sneezing could be heard from the other side of the headset, Yumi raised her eyebrow in wonder.

"Who was that?"

"Danielle…" Victoria said turning her head to look at her cousin who was lying next to her suitcase half on the bed. "Wait, she's not coming with us?" Yumi asked shocked.

"No, she pretended to be sick so she could stay home the other day. Unfortunately it came back to bite her in the butt and she's actually come down with a cold today. She is not a happy camper; she wanted to be home and healthy."

"Aw poor Dani. This is going to be really weird." It didn't matter where or what the two girls did Dani was always there with them.

A few minutes later, both closed their suitcases at the exact same time and let out a sigh. Without warning voices called from the other side of their rooms.

"Yumi, I'm leaving!" called Hitomi.

"Victoria, let's get a move on, you don't want to be late," called Akima.

"More than she knows. Well I guess I'll let you go and see you shortly."

"See yeah."

Yumi turned off her headset after taking it off and set it on her bed beside her suitcase and duffle bag.

"This is going to be a long week."

Picking up her belongings, Yumi left her room with a sad look before going into the hallway where her mother stood with her keys in hand waiting for Yumi.

"You all set?"

"Unfortunately," Yumi grumbled.

"You better lose the attitude young lady, this is one of the reasons you don't make too many friends."

"I'm sorry I didn't know that you actually have a problem with my attitude and I already have two friends: Victoria and Kiva. You remember them right?" Yumi fumed.

The two of them already made their way to the car and were already on the road, the conversation kept getting more heated.

"Yumi, it's attitudes like those that won't get you far in life."

"Maybe this is how I am, and the way I'm going to remain. If you have a problem with that deal with it."

"I don't understand what your problem is; you never acted like this before. Is it because your father and I divorced?"

"No mom, you never put it into consideration that maybe it was the whole thing that I was removed from my old friends back in Highton View Terrace, or the fact that I had to start fresh, meet new friends start a new school. It's not that simple for a child. Thank gods Victoria has always been there, and now Kiva."

Hitomi didn't say another word, only sighed. Yumi stared out her window at the passing cars. She so desperately wanted to be out of the car, away from her mother and far away from the camp as possible.

It was five minutes later when the car finally came to a stop. Hitomi turned the ignition off, opened her door and got out. Yumi stayed inside for a few minutes refusing to leave. A knock sounded on the glass startling her out of her daydream. Looking up at the noise she saw Victoria standing there.

"Hey, am I ever glad to see you," Yumi said opening the door and embracing her friend.

"Let me guess, Hitomi driving you insane?" Victoria guessed.

"Yes, it was 'let's play 20 questions'. You have no idea how annoying it is."

"You still haven't told her the actual reason have you?" Victoria asked

"Not all of it, but unfortunately I'm not really sure I can actually tell her," Yumi sighed taking her suitcase and carrier from the trunk. "Where's Kiva?"

"I haven't seen her yet, she might be on one of the buses already."

It took five minutes to get everyone officially on the bus and get on the road. Yumi nor Victoria could find Kiva in all the hectic array of kids, but they were certain she was somewhere. A non-stop array of chattering started up with all the other kids. Yumi and Victoria who were now sitting in the back rolled their eyes and just sighed. Obviously the two girls realized that Kiva was not in fact on this bus.

The bus ride went smoothly; Yumi rested her head on the glass and closed her eyes. Victoria kept her head back against the seat while listening to her music. Yumi couldn't get the concept of her mom re-dating out of her head. The last guy her mom was with was a major ass who had a habit of hitting her for no apparent reason, but her mom never noticed or paid attention. She had prayed for years during those times that she was with her father, it would of saved her so much turmoil.

The trip itself took five long hours; the girls fell asleep while everyone else continued their long conversations. Slowly their voices became only murmurs as the two went into a deep sleep. The anxiety of going to the camp stayed at the back of their heads; it was going to be a very long and painful two weeks. The two were just lucky to have another friend who could help with the problem.

A screeching sound of breaks jolted Yumi and Victoria out of their sleep. Looking around both realized they were at the campsite, a disgusted look spread across their faces when both were finally wide awake.

"Oh goody, a full week here with all these annoying preppy people. This is going to be torture," groaned Yumi angrily.

"I hear that. I say we stay away from them as long as possible and do our own thing. They can't tell us what to do," Victoria declared.

Exiting the bus with their belongings, everyone headed to just outside the bus waiting for the rest of the kids to get off and their teacher to give them instructions. A sense of annoyance and irritation built up inside the two friends as the others kept talking or reuniting with old friends from the other bus.

"Please just kill me now, or I'm going to kill them myself," Yumi vowed crossing her arms and leaned against the bus beside Victoria who kept her head down.

After the teachers gave the instructions from what was going on and where exactly everyone was suppose to be for cabins, everyone headed in their directions. Yumi and Victoria took their suitcases and carrier bags and followed behind a group of girls heading to one of the cabins.

"Oh god, I think the freaky Goth chicks are with us," said one of the girls with curly blond hair.

Yumi and Victoria both rolled their eyes as they continued to walk past them.

"How immature can you get?" Yumi asked.

"Where is Kiva?" grumbled Victoria searching the crowd ignoring the girls altogether.

Entering one of the cabins, first thing Yumi and Victoria saw were five doors, each leading to a room. One of course led to the only bathroom in the entire cabin, the others led to bedrooms with bunk beds. Some held three bunks others four.

Without moving an inch from their spot the other girls raced to the four rooms and picked their beds for the two weeks. Yumi and Victoria took their sweet time heading into the third bedroom surprised to see five bunks, there were two beds left, and thankfully it was an empty bunk. Placing their things on the beds Yumi and Victoria sat on the bottom bed cross-legged.

"This is going to be one long and pain in the ass time here, I already want to go home."

"Then why don't you? You don't fit in here any way," replied one of the girls, she seemed to be friends with the first girl. She had light brown wavy hair.

"Why don't you bite me? Trust me I would love to go home right now, but unfortunately my mom won't let me."

* * *

The rest of the day consisted of playing games outside, which Victoria and Yumi stayed away from and sat underneath a shaded spot merely watching them. Victoria decided to bring out one of her books to read to keep her mind occupied while Yumi decided to head down to the water to go for a swim.

As much as the two weren't keen on any fun activities or sports, they weren't picky when it came to swimming. It was the only thing the two loved to do.

"Mind if I join you?" asked a boy's voice several minutes later.

Yumi who was now relaxing on her back flipped over to see a young boy of eight with blonde short hair. He was wearing red trunks ready to go swimming.

"I don't care, it's just water," Yumi replied going back to her relaxation.

The boy jumped in and began to play around, he reminded Yumi of Victoria's cousin Danielle.

"Hey Yumi, dinner is ready, you going to eat?" Victoria called from the shore two hours later.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Hey kid, better get out of the water, dinner is ready."

Yumi swam up to shore and walked out. Water dripped off her as she trudged over to her towel. Victoria still stood there in her black jeans and short black t-shirt with silver designs on it.

"Who was that kid?"

"I don't know, just another boy. He reminds me of Danielle though, I'll have to admit," Yumi replied wrapping her towel around her and strolled toward the cabin beside Victoria.

"How so?"

"I don't know he just does."

During dinner all the campers sat outside at long benches with their plates in front of them. On them were fish, rice and vegetables. The fish had been caught during the time that Yumi was in the water. Sounds of rushing water could be heard a few feet away from the land. Yumi and Victoria sat at the end close to the water to be by themselves away from all the talkative people. A few feet away sat a young girl about two years younger with reddish brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She sat with her friends, the same ones who were dissing Victoria and Yumi earlier, talking away. The girl wore blue jeans and a pink tank top with flowers rising from the hem up.

Beside the little group was the little boy Yumi saw earlier now wearing black shorts and a green t-shirt. Beside him was an older boy of eleven with blonde hair; he looked exactly like the little one. Victoria pointed out that they were in fact brothers.

"Wait a minute, didn't we go to the same elementary school with the older one back in Highton View Terrace?" Yumi asked studying the boy's features.

"I think so, he does look familiar."

"I do recognize that one boy. Okay, past the group of girls the one with light brown hair, isn't that James Akimoto? He was in one of my classes back in elementary school when they decided to hold me back," Yumi explained.

* * *

Dinner went by, Victoria and Yumi did more remembrances with people. When it got late everyone headed to his or her cabins for a goodnights sleep. Yumi climbed to the top of the bunk while Victoria slid in the bottom. The other girls in the cabin were settling into bed, but weren't close to sleep yet.

"Anyone have any good scary stories?" asked the same girl Yumi and Victoria saw earlier. Yumi recognized her as Tora.

"I do, but I'm not sure any of you are actually up for it," replied Yumi flipping over to rest on her stomach.

"Try us."

"All right. It started a long time ago in a campsite just like this one. There were three campers who like to wander off a lot during the night, none of the camp advisers ever noticed. But one night it got bad, real bad. The three decided to enter further and further into the forest, just like the ones here. Weird animal sounds could be heard all around as the forest began to become thick and dark. They knew they were lost, and neither one cold remember the way back.

"Of course during this time a maniac had recently escaped an asylum and he was out to kill. He had his own ways of killing; one of his popular ways according to the police was by stabbing his victim through the heart and pulling it out before hacking away it the person.

"Branches on the ground began to snap in half, the frightened campers didn't know if it was caused by an animal or by something else. It had been hours now and terror soon overcame the three friends.

"Further and further they went from the safety of camp and further still into the thick forest. An eerie mist soon began to surround them. Weird inhuman noises sounded, and it was definitely not coming from the animals. Those sounds were long gone. With nothing else to do the three campers stopped in their tracks. Rustling noises sounded behind them, at first each one thought it was their councillors looking for them. So one of them shouted out to the unknown person.

"We're over here! We're over here!"

"It went silent. The three were terrified. All that could be heard was the racing of their hearts pounding in their chest. The footsteps got closer. Their breath caught. Why wasn't the person responding to their call? Was this someone they could trust?

"We need to keep moving. I don't trust this, if it were a councillor they would have replied," replied the second.

"But we could get even more lost," remarked the third.

"With nothing left to do, the girls split up into different sections. Heavy footsteps sounded behind one girl. In seconds a deafening cry pierced the still night air. The other two froze in terror. Taking their chance both continued to run. Once again heavy footsteps sounded again. The second girl let out a blood-curdling scream as the blade pierced her flesh stabbing her beating heart. Warm blood dripped down her body as the killer took out the bloody knife and began to slice off every part of her body, until her limbs were separated.

"What happened to the other girl is still a mystery; some say she escaped the forest unscathed. Others say she was just as mutilated at the others. But one thing for sure the killer still roams the forest. He carries the still bloody knife ready to kill again…" a bang sounded on the window causing the girls, except for Yumi and Victoria, to scream. The two just snickered when they looked over to see some rowdy boys looking in.

"Calm down it's just some arrogant jerks. Come on, it's time for bed I'm exhausted. Oh and if you girls have to talk, please be in a whisper or I swear you wish you met the crazed killer," Yumi said curling up under her blankets and closing her eyes.

* * *

**Tell me what you think, I hope you all enjoyed chapter one. :)**


	2. Adventure of a life time

**A/N: Here is chapter two once again, I fixed some of the mistakes and added new things, hope its better. So once again this is longer than the first one. I apologize again for me getting repetetive near the end because they are introducing themselves once again, and I explain some of the digimon. Once again I don't own digimon or Kiva, or Puppymon, only my characters. I like to thank San child of the wolves for commenting and allowing me to use her character. Obviously chapter three is up. Letting everyone know chapter 15 will be up and running within the next day or so, so keep in touch. Peace**

Chapter two

Adventure of a life time

The sun rose in the distance bringing with it warmth of a very glorious day. Soon the beams shone into the cabins waking the sleepy campers up out of bed. Victoria moaned with discomfort as she turned over to avoid the new morning. On the top bunk Yumi grabbed her pillow from under her hear and put it over top to stop the sun light from interfering with her sleep.

"Rise and shine campers, let's move it!" called one of the councillors opening the door wide.

"What a rude awakening. Must we get up this early? I need to get my hair washed," whined one girl with the blonde hair.

"They said to wake up. Not go outside and run," Yumi groaned underneath the pillow. "In all seriousness if neither of you are planning to get into the shower I'll be taking over!"

"Well how long do you propose your going to be?" asked the girl with the light brown hair.

"Irritate me long enough, an hour."

"Please tell me you're joking," moaned Tora who now resting on her elbows.

"Depending upon her moods," replied Victoria staring at Tora.

"All right, we'll behave."

"Good to hear."

Yumi climbed down the ladder and made her way toward the only bathroom in the cabin. Opening the door Yumi was in shock. Instead of seeing just a shower, toilet and sink, she saw five stalls and six showers and four sinks.

"You are in luck; we have six showers waiting to be used," called back Yumi.

"Excellent," cried another girl with dark brown hair.

-----------------

After twenty minutes went by the girls headed down to the benches for breakfast. All the other campers were running around enjoying a marvellous morning. Yumi and Victoria rolled their eyes as both bypassed the benches to sit underneath a tree to relax in the shade. While sitting there, their eyes located some people that they recognized from the past.

Holding a soccer ball in one arm and laughing with a group of friends, was Tora Nakamura who was ten years old, the same girls who were in the cabin with them. She was about five foot with a slim figure; she had shoulder length reddish brown hair that was held back into a ponytail, with emerald green eyes. She wore a black tank top with a blue butterfly on the front. Her bottoms were light blue jeans with a pink belt and pink hems. Her shoes were simple black runners. The two girls knew that she was a little Miss proper girl. Although she was a proper little lady, her persona was a little more different. She rather spend her time playing soccer with her friends. The small group headed off to an open area to kick the ball around away from the other campers.

Screaming and laughter could be heard from a small group of eight year olds. A little boy with blonde hair ran past a smile on his face. He was typically a small guy in the group and somewhat on the short side in his class of the height of four foot seven. He had a soft round face and small nose. His name was Kisho Chikamatsu, he has grown up in a very strenuous house, which incessantly made him upset when he got older when others fought. He is the little brother of Mark.

Standing close by underneath a tree stood a young boy of eleven who was around the height of five foot four. He had blonde spiky hair and amber eyes. He had the same matching features of his little brother. His name was Mark Chikamatsu. He is an uptight guy, he never once showed his feelings. He is viewed as a tough guy to all those in the camp. Of course, with his parents separating at a young age was the only reason.

"Talk about an overprotective brother. This is why Dani should have joined us; she would have gotten along so well with the crowd."

"You kidding, she'll be sitting right here criticizing every camper because they were too preppy, too high on themselves, or that it was too bright," Victoria replied closing her eyes to slip into a world of slumber.

"Your right. Too bad we still couldn't get on a bus and head to the art camp, it'll be so much better than this."

"You think. Stupid parents and their rules about making news friends, hello, friend's right here!"

"Speaking of friends…"

As Yumi rested her arms behind her head she could see a young woman possibly in her early teens of thirteen head toward a tree by the water. She wore a black hoodie with a skull cat on the front with a hood with cat ears on top. Her bottoms were simple black jeans. On her hands were fingerless black gloves. On her feet were mid calf black doc martin boots. Her lavender colour hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"Victoria, look who we finally found!" Yumi said grinning sitting up staring at the teenager.

"Oh thank gods, I thought we would never find Kiva. Do you think there is a reason why she's not joining us?" Victoria asked staring at the teen.

"Two things, she is either too preoccupied or didn't see us," Yumi answered leaning against the tree again.

"Point taken."

Kiva strolled over to the tree without worry or caring. When she reached the base, effortlessly she jumped to the low branch and pulled herself up before climbing up further till she was sitting on the highest branch, her back leaning against the tree itself and let out a sigh. She could never understand why her mom forced her to the camp. Half the campers were too perky for her own liking, and others were so full of themselves that she could never allow herself to get close. She kicked herself mentally for not being able to locate Yumi and Victoria, mind you she wasn't trying to hard, she did want to the space.

As she sat there, Kiva took out a small note pad and started to scribble down things on the paper. There was no reason for the words, but a lot of it was to get out all her anger and annoyance. This was the only way she could get it all out since she wouldn't or couldn't voice out her problems. This was another way to stop herself from picking a fight with a random camper for no apparent reason.

-------------------

As the afternoon came around, the games continued, Yumi and Victoria left their spot to move closer to the water. Yumi changed into her bathing suit and dived into the cool water. Like the first day Victoria sat at the edge of the water underneath the tree reading her book. The councillors gathered all the campers up to begin so games, but Yumi, Victoria and Kiva refused to join in the action of the camp life.

"Victoria, how many more days of this is there?" called Yumi floating around the lake still.

"Ten."

"Damn!" Yumi groaned pushing herself through the water.

Silence filled the campgrounds, at first Yumi thought that everyone disappeared, but realized that everyone simply moved into the hall for lunch. Only five others remained outside. Victoria was still mindlessly reading her book not ever paying attention to the words or to anything around her.

"Yee haw!" shouted a boy as he came jumping into the lake. Yumi's eyes widened at the sight of the boy doing a cannon ball into the water.

"I hate my life," Yumi sighed as a wave of water splashed her face.

The boy was James Akimoto; he was at a height of five feet, with light brown hair with hazel eyes. He was ten years old. He was an outgoing, happy guy; Yumi knew that he never got angry unless people get into his face. He had a tendency to get over his head thinking he was better than everyone around him especially becoming the chicken little when weird things came up.

"I think this is the time for me to leave the water," Yumi muttered making her way toward the shore.

Victoria who finally put the book down looked at Yumi's direction annoyed, not at her, but toward James who got her soaked.

"You're going in?" Victoria asked standing up.

"I need to change; the water is getting too crowded."

The two made their way back toward the cabins, silently praying that no one was in or around the cabin.

Inside the empty cabin, Yumi took out her two piece outfit and made her way toward the bathroom. Once inside, Yumi took off her wet bathing suit to change into her black and red thick stripped shirt with an off shoulder sleeves reaching to her wrist there were straps that tied behind her neck keeping the upper chest open, with fishnet fingerless gloves reaching her wrist. Her bottoms was a black knee length red skirt, with a black strap hanging in the middle. Around her waist was a flowery belt. On her feet was her mid calf strapped black boots with red tips on the toe. Combing out her hair she pulled her wet hair into a high ponytail and left the bathroom to return to the room.

Back in the room, Victoria was wearing her black tank top with a red strip down the middle. On her hands were black fingerless gloves reaching her wrist. Her bottoms was a black skirt that was torn at the ends with a flower belt around her waist. On her feet were her mid calf doc martin black boots with a red patch running on the front of the boots. Around her neck she wore her black cross chocker.

"I say we join Kiva up in the tree, it's quieter up there."

"Right behind you, I've got my music, and my bag."

Making their way out of the cabin again, the two girls headed down the lawn passing groups of campers toward the tree where Kiva sat still writing in her notepad. Yumi and Victoria hoisted themselves up the branches to sit next to Kiva on nearby branches.

Settling on the branches, Yumi put her head phones into her ears and turned her mp3 player on concentrating on the music in her head. Victoria brought her right knee to her chest allowing her left to dangle, she subconsciously swung her dangling leg back in forth. Resting on her knee was her book she had out earlier. When she got into a story, she didn't want out of it at all. Kiva of course was still writing she wasn't afraid of putting it away when Yumi and Victoria were around, she knew that the two would never ask. If it wasn't their business there was no reason to ask.

The afternoon sky beckoned everyone to go out and play, the sun shone brightly allowing the games to commence. But as the three girls continued to loiter on the branches of the tree, three individual snowflakes began to descend from the clear sky above and land softly upon them. One snowflake landed on Victoria's book, the other on Yumi's forehead and the last one on Kiva's notepad. The three looked up in disbelief, how could it be snowing in the middle of July?

Another child was an eight year old boy, Kisho Chikamatsu, who was chasing some other campers his age. He was wearing knee length black shorts with a silver short sleeved t-shirt.

As he continued to run around he noticed a snowflake fall to his nose.

Exiting the cabin was James Akimoto; he had changed from his swimming trunks to a black short sleeved t-shirt with blue along the hem of the shirt and the sleeves along with black jeans. On his feet he wore black shoes with silver along the sides.

As he made his way out on to the grass a snowflake fell on his bare arm.

Kicking a soccer ball around with a small group of girls was a young girl Tora Nakamura. She was one to speak her mind when asked, most people found it quite annoying, especially Yumi, Victoria and Kiva.

As the soccer ball came back to her, she kicked it up to balance it on her knee and bounce it a few times before bouncing it high enough into the sky to strike it with her head. But what she saw first was a snowflake chasing the soccer ball back to earth.

Sitting by the lake staring toward the other side was a young boy, Mark Chikamatsu. He wore a dark gray shirt with matching gray pants with white and black shoes.

As he brought his knees in more, a snowflake fell on to his knee caps causing him to look up to the sky.

Sitting on the stairs of one of the cabins was a young boy of thirteen, busy typing on his laptop not even remotely caring what was going on in his surroundings. He was about five foot six with chin length brown hair with hazel eyes. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with black pants and black sneakers. He was caring, smart, outgoing, geeky and gay. Coming to camp he thought it would be a getaway to get some extra studying done, as well to spend time with his boyfriend. His name was Robert Takahashi.

As he continued to type on his keyboard a snowflake fell on to his screen.

Underneath the same tree as the three girls was a young boy of twelve indulging himself into a book. He was about five feet five with chin length black hair and tesla blue eyes. He wore a black tank top with black jeans and matching black shoes. People considered him to be emo and a loner, for the way he dressed. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva had known him for years, they were fine with the way he acted and who he was. In fact he was not what he appeared; he was determined, loyal, philosophical, energetic, drama queen at times, friendly, understanding, stubborn and gay. Like Robert he was concerned about his studying and marks. He challenged himself with the most basic things in life. His name was Yukito Kimura.

As he continued to read a snow flake fell on top of his book making him look up to the sky curiously.

Suddenly, the clear blue sky turned cloudy and the snow came down even harder than ever. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva slid from each branch as quickly as they could to get inside to the safety of a cabin. Yukito saw them coming and moved out of their way.

--------------

Time passed when the snow finally let up, leaving in its wake deep snow at the campsite. For Yumi, Victoria, Yukito and Kiva this meant that they didn't have to worry about doing any normal fun camp activities. For others it was a disappointment because the canoe races were cancelled.

"I say we have toboggan races in stead," cried James happily running out of the cabin.

"Oh yeah, what joy that would be," Mark replied sarcastically leaning against the doorframe.

"Yay, snow!" cheered Kisho running out almost taking out his brother.

"It is so pretty out here. James, I'll take you up on that offer for the races," Tora called out catching up to James.

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva stepped out into the wintery world; a sense of relief came over them as they let out a sigh. Yukito soon followed behind them cautiously, this was not a normal thing to be seeing in the middle of the summer. The three girls stood away from the others leaning against the wall of the cabin in their own little world. Robert soon left the safety of the cabin, his laptop under his right arm and a carrier bag in his left hand.

"Whoa, who would have thought this could happen," Robert said aloud.

"This is what happens when nature gets screwed over," Yumi pointed out.

As everyone, except Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Robert and Yukito, played in the snow, something strange started to happen in the sky. Yumi was the first to look up and notice the multi coloured light. Victoria and Kiva followed suit, causing Yukito to take a look. Soon the nine were all staring up at the multi coloured sky.

"Isn't that the Aurora Borealis?" asked Victoria now walking toward the others to get a better look. Victoria was one to get easily amused by shiny things, and things that could be seen at night in the winter.

"It is, but I thought it could only be seen in Alaska or something," Yumi replied standing next to her friend, Kiva right beside her.

"Maybe something happened to make it move to a new location," came Kisho's voice.

Before anyone could say anything, a green light appeared admits the lights. Without blinking, a green light appeared. As if it couldn't get any weirder, nine red meteor balls of energy came out of the green light toward the nine children. Bracing themselves for impact the nine little meteor balls crashed into the snow in front of them all. As the dust cleared, Yumi was the first to stand up helping Victoria and Kiva to their feet.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked.

"I think so, what just happened?" Tora asked. She stood up covered completely in white; she shook the snow off herself as she joined the three girls.

"What in the world just happened right there?" asked Mark as he helped Kisho to his feet.

Yukito, who was still on the ground was searching for the source of energy. "They appeared to have been meteors, but how this all fits together is beyond me."

In an instant, a light appeared from the small hole the meteors made in the snow. A yellow light surrounded something blue in the middle of it as it raised toward the nine. Filled with curiosity the nine grabbed hold of the small orbs. When their hands were grasping them, the light disappeared to be replaced by small white devices.

"What the hell are these?" asked Yumi.

"They look like little digital apparatuses," responded Robert.

Before Yumi could inquire further about the new devices, a giant wave appeared taking the group by surprise. Victoria and Yumi stood there facing one another their eyes closed.

"I hate my life right now," moaned both of them as the wave crashed upon them.

"I knew I should have gone to soccer camp," screamed Tora as everyone as the wave retracted.

"Why didn't I stay home in the comfort of my own room?" cried out Yukito.

To Yumi and Victoria it felt like they were in a giant whirl pool that wanted to suck them up into the depths of despair.

Further and further the nine fell into the strange vortex, being sucked into another parallel universe. What new thing could possibly happen now?

Yumi felt a strong impact on the ground minutes later. She lay flat on her stomach her head turned to the right as she tried to get over the pain that emanated through her entire body.

"Victoria, are you there?" Yumi asked in a strained voice forcing herself up to her knees with no avail. She felt her body fall back to the solid earth.

"Victoria, are you there?" Yumi asked again, curling up into a ball to get her body to cooperate.

She sighed when there was no response. She turned over on to her back so she could get a better view when she opened her eyes. She kept her eyes closed as a wave of pain crossed her body once again. _'Oh gods, this hurts so bad. Victoria, where could you be?'_

Finally opening her eyes, Yumi realized that she was no longer on earth, or at least in the campgrounds. This place seemed different, trees, and plants were all looming over her. There was no snow on the ground.

"Where am I?" Yumi finally called out as loud as she could.

In some bushes at least ten feet from where Yumi lay, was Victoria lying on her back. She could hear Yumi's scream in the distance, causing her to open her eyes in alarm. Lifting her head to look around, instead of seeing Yumi or Kiva, she saw a yellow small creature with big bright blue eyes with pointy ears with four tiny legs. Victoria's eyes widened at seeing the creature on her.

"There is a yellow thing on me, why is there a yellow thing on me?" Victoria asked slightly panicked resting her head back on the ground in annoyance.

"Is that what you're calling your partner?" the yellow creature said to her.

Victoria sat up into a sitting position knocking the creature to the ground. "Partner?" Victoria asked confused. "Um…have you had your vaccine shots?"

"Do you think I'm just an animal?" the creature asked waddling up to Victoria, its voice had an hint of annoyance and was offended by Victoria's remark. "I've been waiting for you though." Suddenly the yellow creature jumped into Victoria's arms, she didn't move away from it, just stared in wonder.

"Waiting? For me? Waiting for me?" Victoria asked, this seemed quite amusing to her, how could this creature be waiting for her?

"Are you always this wary with every new thing you meet?" asked the creature getting annoyed.

"As a matter of fact I am, I have this thing about trusting and liking things the very first time."

"Well anyway, my name is Viximon and I'm your partner."

Victoria continued to look at the creature curiously; she could feel a tiny bond begin to grow within the creature. There was something about her that Victoria should trust. Before Victoria could ask any more questions, she could hear Yumi's screams again.

"Oh crap, Yumi!" Victoria yelped standing up grabbing her bag with her right hand and held on Viximon in the other.

Victoria ran straight through the bushes to where Yumi now sat up on her knees looking around. She saw Victoria running toward her holding on to a little creature that almost resembled something of a stuffed toy.

"Yumi, are you all right?" Victoria asked running to her side.

"Yeah, I believe so. Where are we?"

"I wish I knew, I'm not sure myself."

"Um…Tori, what's that in your arms?"

"Great another questioning human," scoffed Viximon.

"Viximon, that's enough. Yumi, this is Viximon, it's going to sound strange, but she's my partner."

"Partner? Okay, strange," Yumi sighed looking at Viximon.

"Where's your partner?" Victoria asked looking around the small area.

"I'm not sure. I hope it's around somewhere."

Further away underneath a tree was Kiva who was fully sitting up and staring at a strange looking creature. It looked like a little blob of black fur, with a small black, half silver and half white tail. Its ears had white and silver tips, and it had a white line under his one eye, and a silver line under his other eye. His eyes were silver with a black ring around them, and white pupils. Kiva held it in her arms as she sat there. Its name was Pupmon; Kiva immediately became attached to her partner.

"Kiva, we have to go find the others, I'm sure they'll be worried," Pupmon said.

Kiva nodded her head in response. Pupmon already realized that she couldn't talk, but he learned that he could read her thoughts just as easily.

Standing up, Kiva tightened the grip on Pupmon and walked away from her spot underneath the tree and made her way toward hopefully the location of Yumi and Victoria.

Pupmon continued to look up at his partner who was absentmindedly staring far ahead of her, no doubt trying to understand where she was and what was going on. Although she harboured no darkness within, she carried a heavy, dark burden within her that would never go away.

"Kiva, have you ever opened up to anyone about what has bothered you?" Pupmon asked concerned.

Kiva's only response was a shake of her head. Pupmon could sense that she didn't want to say too much to anyone. Her past was filled with pain, and suffering. There was more to her then she was letting on, Pupmon didn't want to push any further not until she was willing to allow him inside.

Minutes passed when she saw Yumi and Victoria standing in an open area talking. On top of Victoria's head was a little yellow creature. When Kiva emerged from the plants, Viximon was the first to notice the two new people.

"Pupmon, good to see you," Viximon said jumping off of Victoria's head and landed gracefully on the ground.

"So these are the other destineds," Pupmon remarked looking at the other two humans before him. Both were clothed in the same manner as Kiva. The two held the same dark aura brought upon years of abuse and neglect. Yumi stared down at the little puff ball with curiosity.

"You have a very bright little creature there Kiva," Yumi replied. Kiva gave a small smile, barely visible. One where if you blinked you missed it.

"I am known as a digimon," Pupmon snapped impatiently.

"Sorry, didn't know I hit a nerve," Yumi snapped back. Kiva gave a little sharp cough, indicating for Yumi to shut her mouth. Yumi looked up at her with an apologetic look.

"Kiva doesn't want us to fight; she says I should trust the two of you. And I apologize, I didn't realize that you are without a partner," Pupmon replied.

"It's all right. I'm sure it's around somewhere, right?"

"So where exactly are we anyway?" Victoria asked scanning her surroundings.

"It's called the Digi world," replied Viximon.

"Digi world…" breathed Victoria and Yumi together as both looked high into the sky. Yumi made her way to one of the trees and started to climb up the branches, hoping to get a better look at the new strange world.

"…it's short for Digital World," Pupmon said to Kiva. Victoria looked between the two of them and realized that he was talking for her.

"That's what I call a great bond right there," Victoria remarked.

"What do you mean?" Viximon asked.

"The way Pupmon would communicate through Kiva. I guess it's a talent most of you Digimon possess right?"

"You can say that. Where did that friend of yours go anyway?" Viximon asked looking around.

"I think she is up in the tree," replied Victoria staring up at the tree where Yumi now sat on the highest branch staring out into the distance.

Yumi searched her bag for her binoculars she decided to shove in her bag at the last minute. Looking through it she could see an ocean and a bunch of mountains.

"We didn't have any of those close to the camp, the lake maybe, but the ocean? I wish I had a map of this place, it would be so much easier to figure out where we are," sighed Yumi lowering her binoculars.

"Any luck locating any familiar areas?" Victoria asked minutes later sitting next to her. Viximon was once again perched upon her head.

"No, I don't recognize one thing…wait a minute," putting the binoculars back up, Yumi could see something flying toward them. It looked like another creature, but this one seemed to be much larger than the other two creatures. It resembled something of a giant Hercules beetle with a red body and black stripes. It had four arms, and two giant wings. Yumi's eyes widened as the giant creature was getting closer. Victoria and Viximon sensed this as well, the two swung backwards till they were hanging upside down their legs keeping balance. Victoria held on to Viximon with all her strength. The giant creature flew in slicing through the tree narrowly missing the three in the process.

On the ground, Kiva watched in horror of what was going on. Pupmon narrowed its eyes as his fur stood on end. Anger was filling his body as he watched the other three try to get to safety.

"That is one seriously bad digimon even when he's in a good mood," explained Pupmon.

'_Great, this is one thing I needed,'_ Kiva thought angrily.

The flying digimon turned back around noticing that his foes were still alive. He turned back towards the Goth kids and digimon. Yumi and Victoria just got themselves back up into a sitting position; a head rush came through almost instantly.

"Duck!" cried out Viximon. "His name is Kuwagamon. He is an insectoid digimon. Vicious and ruthless with teeth like knives and scissor hands that can chop through anything."

"Sounds like something we could use at home to get our point through with our issues," Yumi replied as Kuwagamon flew in at maximum speed towards the girls yet again. Instead of ducking like last time Yumi slipped from the tree landing on the next branch below them. Victoria followed suit, Viximon jumped the other way toward the bigger digimon.

"Killing stone!" Viximon turned herself into a stone still aiming toward Kuwagamon. A gas seemed to escape her.

"That's a poisonous gas, but I'm not sure if it's going to even effect him," Pupmon said when Victoria and Yumi returned to the ground.

"She is a very determined Digimon, like someone I know," Yumi responded watching the yellow digimon continue her attack.

"I think this why the two of us have a strong bond already."

"I'm helping her, she needs my help," Pupmon replied jumping into the air to help Viximon. Kiva didn't say anything, or try to stop him; she knew that it was for the best.

"Pup-bite!" yelled Pupmon as his fangs started to glow white. When he got close to Kuwagamon he went to bite the bug digimon but with no effect.

The two digimon were knocked down to earth by Kuwagamon's arm. Victoria and Kiva ran toward their falling digimon with their arms held high.

"Viximon, you really need to pick on bugs your own size, he's way too big for you."

"I could have taken him; Pupmon came at just the right time though. Thanks by the way."

"You are most welcome."

Yumi stared at the sky wide eyed when she saw Kuwagamon coming toward them at an immense amount of speed.

"Uh guys…as much as you want to congratulate your digimon, we better run now, he's coming our way!" Yumi yelled backing away as much as she could.

"This way follow me I know where we can go for safety," Pupmon said leading the way toward a huge tree.

Yumi took hold of Victoria's right wrist and Kiva's left forearm and ran toward the tree where Pupmon had disappeared into. Kuwagamon continued to slice down trees in its path, making its way toward the three human children. Viximon stood outside waiting for them to hurry up.

"For humans with long legs you sure do run slowly," Viximon said as Yumi, Victoria and Kiva dived into the tree.

"What kind of tree is this?" Yumi questioned catching her breath as she looked at the two digimon.

"It's a hiding tree," replied Viximon going to Victoria to sit in her lap.

Outside the tree, the five could hear the sounds of Kuwagamon roaring and slicing through the trees angrily.

"Stay quiet, don't make a sound," Pupmon said as he and the others did their best to keep quiet. Yumi sat close to the entrance straining her hearing to listen to how close Kuwagamon was getting. Victoria lay on her stomach, her hands pressed into the ground lifting her body up just a little ready to jump up at a moments notice. While Kiva sat as calmly as she could. Although she couldn't speak, it didn't stop her from hearing things sharply.

None of them could afford to make a sound; this was a matter of life or death. As the loud screeching sound of Kuwagamon's roar filled the air got closer and closer, the small group sat still hoping for the best. Yumi could feel her hands tensing up into a fist every second. Victoria's heart raced with the anticipation of jumping up from her spot and running out to attack the digimon. Kiva closed her eyes as her heart raced with anxiety, waiting was not a strong suit for her, she rather be out there fighting.

'_We need to fight, we need to destroy him," thought Kiva._

'_I agree, but right now we don't have the strength, he's too powerful for us,'_ replied Pupmon who was now sitting on her lap staring at the door.

The noise started to die down. To Yumi it was like listening to a storm in her room. But this time instead of enjoying it she was terrified. It didn't help either that she didn't have her own digimon to keep her calm. It seemed that everything was okay, for a moment the little group seemed to be safe.

"It's safe for you to come out now," came a female voice outside the tree. "That big bug is finally gone."

Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and the two digimon emerged on the other side of the tree cautiously to see Tora staring at them with a warm smile on her face.

"You don't have to hide any more," said Tora laughing.

"Hiding, yeah right," scoffed Yumi. "We were biding our time before we attacked that creature."

"So that's why you chose the tree?"

"It was the closest thing, and apparently the safest place."

Suddenly Yumi noticed a small round green ball with a leaf like tail and nine pink thorns around its head. A big one in the middle with two medium sized ones along on either side of the big one and tiny ones wrapping around.

"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. You must be friends of Tora's. Isn't today a gorgeous one?" said the small vegetation creature.

"Who is that?" Yumi asked raising an eye brow and stared at the green thing uncertainly.

"Yumi, Victoria, Kiva this is Budmon," replied Tora. "My own little pet or whatever, if you want to call it a pet. Who are these two?" Tora asked noticing Viximon and Pupmon sniffing the green creature.

"This is Pupmon, and Viximon," responded Yumi.

All of a sudden Mark emerged from the trees trying to catch up to Kisho who was chasing what looked like a small dog almost. Its body was all white, except for its droopy pink ears and pink tail and pink legs. Its eyes were black. On top of Mark's head looked to be something of a cat head, with a long tail, its fur was two different shades of blue, there was light blue and dark blue, it was all striped along the back of its head and along the tail. In the middle of its forehead seemed to be a marking of an M. Its eyes were a light green, almost yellow looking.

"Hey Mark, Kisho," called Tora happily.

"I see that you also have these little things following you too," Mark said putting his hand on his hip giving a side glance to the three digimon gathered at the girls' feet.

"Yeah, are you going to introduce us to yours?" Yumi asked crossing her arms in front of her.

"Well this little guy on my head is Wanyamon and the one my brother is currents playing with is…"

"My name is Shaomon, it's an honour to meet friends of Kisho's," the little round dog-like creature said.

"I wouldn't say friends, but it is an honour to meet you," Yumi said.

"Where is your digimon Yumi?" Kisho asked looking around hoping to see something jump out of the bushes.

"Haven't been able to find one yet. Maybe I wasn't lucky enough to actually receive one," Yumi remarked shrugging her shoulders uncaring.

A loud scream could be heard coming from a group of trees. Yumi and Victoria looked toward the gathering of trees. Running at top speed came James terrified; both girls rolled their eyes before turning back to Kiva who was sitting on the ground cross-legged in her own little zone.

"Who is that?" Viximon asked.

"That would be James," scoffed Yumi not even caring about what was going on. Tora went over to James who was holding on to a tree with one hand trying to catch his breath.

"What is your problem James?" Tora asked impatiently.

"There is this thing following me, I've asked it several times to leave me alone and it still keeps falling me."

"What thing are you talking about?"

"I am no thing," said a tiny voice. A yellow creature appeared; its head resembled that of a mechanical cat, with point ears. The tail was long with purple markings running up to the tip.

"Who are you?" asked Tora, her voice a little less annoyed.

"My name is Nyaromon, and I'm James' partner."

"How many times do I have to tell you, you are not my partner."

"There you guys are. Robert, I found them," yelled Yukito, his black bangs covering his eyes. Yumi looked over to see him and Robert emerging from the opposite side from James.

"Sorry it took us so long, these little guys decided to take us for walk," Robert said indicating to the little pink blob at his feet and to the little furry shaped head with a white face and a long sharp horn on top of its head.

"I'm Motimon."

"And I'm Tsunomon."

Everyone kind of gave the little creatures a curious look. _'Great, everyone has one except me, this is going to be just perfect,'_ thought Yumi miserably.

James was the first to ask the question everyone yearn to ask. "What are you?"

All eight digimon who were gathered in a small group in front of their partners called out: "We're…"

"Digimon: Digital Monsters!" all eight cried out together. Pupmon and Viximon looked as if they could have killed the other digimon for making them do that little speech.

"Well, it's not like this could get any weirder, right?" Yumi asked.

"Where are our manners? My name is Tora. The small stubborn group over there are Yumi, Victoria and Kiva. Mr. Clever here is Mark, the little one is his brother Kisho, chicken boy is James. And these two are Yukito and Robert," Tora introduced. She might have been a sweet-heart, but she was not afraid to speak her mind.

"So now what are we suppose to do?" asked Mark.

The loud buzzing of wings could be heard within the trees once again. All nine of the kids looked over to where the noise was coming from. Kuwagamon had returned, and he was not amused to see the kids again.

"Shit. Run! Run like you have never run before," commanded Yumi taking the lead heading toward an open space. The digimon tried their hardest to keep up with their partners. Past the trees, the group came a wide open space; it seemed as if the horror was over. Kuwagamon gave up the chase. As everyone got their breaths, the buzzing noise returned.

Yumi braced herself for attack, although she was out a digimon, she was not out of fighting spirit. Kuwagamon zoomed toward them causing everyone to duck to miss the attack.

"We have to get out of here, we're not safe," Yumi shouted facing the others who were still on their knees covering their heads. With no arguments, the group continued their run away from the forest into a more open space. But what was beyond the forest was a cliff, which over looked a river, there was no escape.

"Yumi, now what?" Victoria asked.

"We have to fight."

"Are you nuts? The digimon are no where near the same power level as Kuwagamon, they could get killed."

"What else are we suppose to do?

As Yumi went to tell her the plan, Kuwagamon came out again, causing Yumi to dive for the ground. He was not allowing them to escape so easily.

"Yumi look out he's coming back again!" yelled Victoria as Yumi stood up. Turning around she could see the giant insect coming at her. Frustrated she ran back to the group, but fell to the ground when he got close.

"Killing stone!" yelled Viximon turning back into a stone and emitting a poisonous gas.

"Pup-bite!" yelled Pupmon.

"Tsumo!" yelled Shaomon releasing a strong attack that almost seemed demonic.

"Smile fang!" yelled Wanyamon.

"Bubble blow!" yelled Motimon

"Poison spike!" yelled Budmon sending her thorns towards Kuwagamon.

"Tail whip!" yelled Nyaromon.

"Bubble blow!" yelled Tsunomon.

All the digimon gave it their all at attacking Kuwagamon, but knew that it was useless. For a split second it seemed to have distracted him long enough. He disappeared into the forest, leaving behind eight weakened digimon. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were all kneeling by their digimon; Yumi was observing the two digimon. They didn't suffer any severe injuries, but were just weakened. The other six ran toward their own digimon to make sure they were okay too.

A rumbling noise could be heard within the forest, Kuwagamon soon appeared yet again. Yumi's jaw dropped seeing him.

"Ah mother fu…" Yumi groaned.

"Victoria, you have to let me attack. He won't stop coming after us."

"I know you are trying to prove you are worth it, but Viximon, he is way too big for you," Victoria argued refusing to let go.

"I need to fight, let me go!" came the other digimon as they struggled within their partners arms. Kiva was the only one to reluctantly release her digimon; she knew there was no way she could hold him back.

One by one all seven got free from the arms of the children and raced forward. All of them determined to win the fight. The only thing that everyone could do was just watch and pray that nothing could happen.

All of a sudden, Victoria's digivice began to beep, and one by one everyone else's did as well. Yumi stared at her friend in alarm before turning back to the digimon who were covered in light. Their bodies began to change into something new.

Standing there now were completely new digimon. Everyone was in shock at seeing their new forms. Instead of their little forms, they now stood in a taller form.

"Wow, amazing," Yumi said amazed.

One by one the digimon ran toward Kuwagamon and went to attack him. As he got closer to them, Kuwagamon simply knocked them away. The eight digimon landed on their feet with grace.

"We need to attack him at the exact same time!" the digivolved form of Viximon called out.

"Seed shot!" yelled a pink headed, green body digimon, she had a yellow steam on its head. Seeds flew out of her mouth exploding in front of Kuwagamon.

"Bear fist!"

"Retrieve bark!"

The nine campers were in awestruck to see these newly evolved forms. The digimon were doing quite well. When Kuwagamon couldn't attack any more, all eight sent out their final attack upon him.

"Seed shot!"

"Bear claw!"

"Retrieve bark!"

"Double backhand!"

"Super shocker!"

"Diamond storm!"

"Ice prism!"

"Puppy claw!"

The attack hit Kuwagamon right on causing him to disappear from site. It almost looked as if the digimon disintegrated him from existence.

"Nice work guys!" Yumi cried out.

The digimon except for two of them ran toward their partners in excitement. The tall yellow fox like creature with white tipped ears and white chest and front, stood in front of Victoria a smile on her face. On its arms were purple sleeves that reached from her wrist to half way up elbow with Taoist symbols on her wrists and modified version of the same symbols on her thigh.

"Viximon?" Victoria asked in disbelief.

"Renamon now," the fox digimon said.

Kiva looked at her newly evolved Pupmon. In front of her now was a black dog (at least the size of a German shepherd puppy), that could stand on its hind legs. Its paws were silver, while his claws were white; the tail was half black, half silver, and half white. Its ears were black, with a silver tip, with a white tip above that on the left ear, and then a white tip and a silver tip, above that, on the right ear. Its eyes are silver with flecks of black and white. His ears were pointed, he looked like a wolf-pup, only bigger slightly, and around his eyes, have a white ring and a silver ring, around his eyes.

"My name is Puppymon now, and I will always protect you."

Kiva wrapped her arms around Puppymon, she was so happy to see her new digimon.

"Mark, I am known as Gaomon, it is an honour to be working beside you," said Gaomon, he know looked like a young blue wolf digimon wearing a red headband and a pair of large red boxing gloves.

"Kisho, I'm Labramon," Labramon said. Labramon had pink ears, a pink tail, and big gold nails. The hair on his head almost covers his eyes. He was of course was a bigger version of Shaomon.

"Tora, my name is Lalamon, I hope that you can accept me," Lalamon said in a light airy voice.

Standing in front of Yukito was a different version of a penguin; this one had purple feathers instead of black, "I'm Penguinmon."

In front of James was a black bear with purple buckles around his hands and across his chest. On his head was the same purple hat. "James you can call me Bearmon."

"Robert, I'm Tentomon," the ladybug like digimon said.

"This is so cool," cried out Kisho hugging his digimon.

Not paying attention to their surroundings, Kuwagamon returned from the forest and landing on the cliff digging his pincers into the ground cracking it.

"Oh crap, guys!" Yumi yelled staring at Kuwagamon. As everyone looked it was too late, the cliff gave away to the lake below.

"What could else could go wrong?" screamed Yumi.


	3. Renamon's new claws

**A/N: Here's chapter 3, sorry it took so long. I blame work and the fact that I have had a massive case of writers block. Once again the story is not fully based upon series, but there are a lot of similarities. I got some help from the show itself and changed things around. I hope this one is okay. Once again thank you to San Child of the Wolves for commenting, and catching the fact that I forgot to introduce Kisho. Also keep in mind one little detail with Yumi and her necklace, that necklace of hers is more than just a fashion accessory it'll be important later in a new story. Yeah, I also decided to add some of the things from the series. Hope it's good.**

Chapter 3

Renamon's new claws 

It felt like the end for them, although the water was right below, the current was far too quick for comfort. Renamon grabbed a hold of Victoria and Yumi around their waists and vanished from sight, only to reappear right above the water. Puppymon tried his hardest to get underneath Kiva so he could get her to a dry before hitting both hit the water. But it didn't work to their favour when he couldn't reach her.

The cold water current hit them quickly. The nine forced themselves to stay afloat coughing and spluttering. Puppymon managed to get himself underneath Kiva to keep her above the water. He knew that she couldn't swim well and the current wasn't helping matters.

Labramon did the same thing as he got underneath Kisho, his little body couldn't take the pressure of the current. Tentomon tried his hardest to keep Robert suspended in the air till they reached the shore.

Renamon finally managed to get Yumi and Victoria to shore by teleporting. Yumi was on her hands and knees coughing up water that seemed to get into her lungs. Her clothes stuck to her skin and dripped to the ground around her. Victoria sat leaning against Renamon gasping for breath as Renamon held on to for support.

Bearmon seemed to just drag James to shore with all his strength, seeing that James seemed to have blacked out. Penguinmon was helping both Yukito and Tora to shore seeing that Lalamon had no strength to help her partner to safety. Gaomon and Mark had forced themselves to shore exhaustedly after fighting the current. There was quite a bit of distance between each of them. It didn't take long before the others dragged themselves over to Victoria, Yumi and Kiva.

"Well, that was a refreshing swim. Let's never do that ever again," coughed Yumi who stood up to wring out some of the water from her skirt.

"Agreed!" the others said in unison.

"Is everyone all right in the long run though?" Yukito asked concerned.

"Yeah, minor water logged, but that seems to be the normal out look on things."

"We should probably get a move on, we need to find out exactly where we are and how to get home," Mark said standing up. The others just glared up at him in disbelief.

"Are you crazy? We just battled a strong current. We need time to rest," Tora replied.

"Who's to say if we're safe here or not?"

"I agree with you Mark, but we need to rest. Give us five minutes at least," Victoria said stretching out her legs.

"All right, five minutes than we have to start…"

"Who died and made you boss?" Yumi snapped angrily stretching her arms to the sky.

"Someone has too. Because apparently no one here is up for the challenge of taking that role," argued Mark now getting up in her face.

"Well listen here pretty boy; I don't take orders from no one. I don't appreciate being bossed around like I'm some sort of child who doesn't know better!"

"Why don't you just leave then? You seem to have a good hold on what needs to be done!"

"Let's see, I would but for one thing I have no digimon to protect me. And for another I don't leave my friends. This is a new place, there is absolutely no way I am wandering off to get myself killed!" fumed Yumi shoving Mark away from her face.

"Well for someone with a big mouth you seem to do a lot of talking and give no action," Mark snarled shoving her back.

"Enough!" growled Puppymon, Renamon and Victoria, who stood up glaring furiously at the two. "The two of you are fighting like children. We don't need this right now!"

Yumi stared at her friend in shock. She seen her get angry before, but never to that extent. Obviously she knew where her friend was coming from; there was no place for arguing or fighting when they just got dumped into the new world. Mark looked away furious, he didn't need to be told off by a girl, that was not how he worked.

"Look, here's the deal. We'll relax for five minutes and continue our way to see what we're to expect. I don't want to hear any arguments from anyone! I am not one to be tempered with. We are going to have to learn to work together!" Victoria warned in a dangerous voice staring at Yumi and Mark. The others seemed to get the message loud and clear.

A strong energy formed around Victoria as she sat back down on the ground. Yumi recognized it quite well. Any time that they were at school or hanging out with people pissing her off she got the same furious feeling. Normally the energy lasted for a short time after Victoria would sit and catch her breath. Other times, especially after a fight with Akima it would last for days.

Yumi knew better than to be near her at this time, friends or not, Victoria would rip off her head with no remorse. Yumi sat down upon a rock cross legged with her carrier bag in front of her. She opened it up taking out a silver chain with a matching silver wolf pendant. The wolf was in a seated position; its head raised high as if howling at an invisible moon. She unhooked it before placing it around her neck and refastened it. The wolf sat neatly just above her chest. The sun bounced off it causing it to sparkle.

Victoria sat by the water in the same sitting position as Yumi, her breath was heavy and irregular. She could feel her chest tighten with every breath of air she took. The she put on herself pressured upon her making it difficult for her concentrate. She never meant to freak out on Yumi but her squabbles with Mark were ridiculous albeit she understood where she was coming from.

Renamon took her chances to sit next to her partner, she didn't know what to expect with her, but if she was anything like herself their connection could grow stronger.

"Going to be all right?" Renamon asked sitting cross legged staring ahead of her at the water.

"I'm not sure. Truth be told I never truly was able to control my emotions all that well. Well I have gotten better; I no longer throw anything or destroy things. Yes childish, but its all pent up rage. I'm jealous of my cousin who could be so calm even after getting into a heated argument," Victoria explained. She never opened up to someone other then Yumi.

"Do you wish to learn how to maintain your anger in a way of meditation?" Renamon asked now facing her partner.

"You have no idea how long I've been yearning to go into that secluded area," Victoria answered in away of agreeing.

Renamon turned her body so she was facing Victoria's side. Victoria decided to follow suit to make it easier for her to learn.

"Follow my directions all right? Close your eyes," Renamon instructed. Victoria did so; everything in her world went black. "I want you to take three deep calming breaths, after which go back into regular breathing. Feel your body begin to since into a restful position. Let everything around you disappear. Drop every hope, every idea, and every worry. This is your time…"

The others were still sitting around talking with their digimon. There was no sense in disturbing Victoria and Renamon both seemed to be far into their meditation. Yumi stared over at her friend concerned, she never seen her get so desperate about controlling her emotions before. Yumi knew that Victoria could harbour them inside for so long and go into a dark zone for hours on end.

Ten minutes passed by when Victoria got out of her meditation. Yumi could sense her aura change to a bit of a lighter one.

"Come on, we have to get a move on," Victoria said getting to her feet. "Remember, absolutely no arguing, or you will be dealing with me!"

Yumi slid off the rock strolling to her friend's left side with Renamon on the right. Kiva stood beside Yumi with Puppymon loyally strolling next to her. The others followed closely behind, but still leaving enough space. The digimon, who just met the humans, didn't understand what was going on tried to close the small gap. Although seeing the little argument between Yumi and Mark it didn't seem to bother them.

"So where are we going any way? We came from up there on the cliff, now there's no way to return," Tora said looking back at the cliff with a sigh.

"We explore, I don't care that this is a new place. If we are going to be here for a long while I want to know what we are to expect," Yumi said keeping her temper somewhat.

"Bearmon, are there other digimon like that Kuwagamon digimon?" James asked.

"Yes and no. There are good digimon such as ourselves, but there are others that are a little more dangerous."

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva all kept quiet a head of the others. The three girls were all in deep thought figuring out a best plan to get home and not kill the others. Puppymon looked up at Kiva every once in a while. He was talking with her within her mind. Yumi and Victoria could sense this as the silence continued.

"Girls, what are you thinking?" Renamon asked breaking the silence finally.

"We need to figure out where we are and how we are possibly going to get home," answered Victoria who seemed to be in her own little world.

"Kiva says there is a mountain up ahead. I think we could see what's around us from up there," Puppymon said, his voice almost in a trance as he looked up ahead to see a mountain.

"About time. Kiva, good thinking," Yumi said. Kiva looked at her with a nod. Her face was expressionless, but Yumi understood that she was appreciative.

"Um…you three might want to look behind you," Puppymon said stopping in its tracks and turning its head.

Yumi rolled her eyes not wanting to know what was going on. Turning around she could see that there was a major gap between the girls and the others. Victoria let out a soft growl of annoyance as she crossed her arms. Kiva simply narrowed her eyes.

"Is there a reason why you all seem to be straggling behind us?" called Victoria.

"Our legs are getting tired, I don't know how any of you are able to keep going," called back Mark.

"We had our break fifteen minutes ago after fighting with the current, and whose idea was it to keep going?" called Yumi as the fourteen made their way to the five who were annoyed by their lack of interest.

"It's not our fault that the five of you are speed walking a head of us!" argued Mark.

"We were walking our normal pace. Dude if you have a problem, why don't you just go off on…Ow!" Yumi yelped holding her arm. Victoria had just slapped Yumi's arm threatening. Victoria now looked at Mark warning him to back off.

"I told all of you, I want no fighting. We were dropped here together, and we are sticking together, I don't want to hear any more of this. Mark, do you see any of the others giving a fight for the continuous walking? No. I'm aware of how long this walk is. Kisho who seems to be the smallest in the group doesn't mind the stroll. Tora, Robert, Yukito, James do the four of you have a problem with this?" Victoria asked. She could start to feel her heart pound at the start of another stress.

"I don't have a problem," Tora said, obviously scared of Victoria at the moment.

"Walking is no problem to me, I absolutely love the stroll," Robert replied giving a shrug.

"You kidding me, I could have start running, but I didn't wish to leave behind the others and Penguinmon."

"No complaints," James said.

"You see Mark the only person to have a problem is you. Shut your mouth and keep up!"

Tora, Robert, Yukito, James and Kisho looked at Victoria wide eyed, they were in complete shock. Mark just looked at her blankly not even caring what was going on. The other digimon didn't know what exactly to do. At the moment it was probably a bad idea to even say anything to Victoria.

"Tora, are you all right?" Lalamon asked hovering beside her as they walked.

"I am so exhausted; I have drill sergeants screaming at me. I don't know how anyone can deal them," groaned Tora absolutely frustrated with the lack of respect.

A head of her, Kisho and Mark walked together, Kisho dragging his feet by now with the lack of rest. Labramon nudged Kisho's arm suggesting for him to get on his back. He knew that Kisho was getting tired and wouldn't be able to go on any longer. Kisho swung his legs over the dog digimon and held on.

Gaomon walked next to Mark on his other side, he looked up curiously to know what his partner was thinking. "Mark, you going to be able to move any further?"

"Hopefully. I just need to catch my breath that's all. I am going to make their lives into a living hell if they make any of us move far distances without a break," Mark muttered.

"Mark, don't get so upset with them, just like us they want to find a way home for us," Kisho said tiredly.

Robert and Yukito who were near the front were in a deep conversation with their digimon partners and themselves. Penguinmon waddled beside Yukito in a cute way, while Tentomon flew next to Robert.

"Are all humans that commanding?" Tentomon asked Robert.

"Not really. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva just seemed to have their mind set on things, refusing to let others to put in their own input in," responded Robert.

"Well you have to understand their true background. There's got to be more to it then just the fact that they love wearing black," Yukito said absentmindedly.

"Yukito, how would you know what their background is, you have never talk to them, and they would never give you the time of day," Robert said.

"Well it's just a hunch," Yukito replied.

Up ahead Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon were listening to the conversations behind them. Yumi closed her eyes in frustration trying to block their voices out. Kiva narrowed her eyes angrily; she didn't like people talking about her or her friends. Victoria was forcing herself to breathe calmly trying her hardest to not let the conversations get to her.

Time ticked by when the nine and their eight digimon got to a beach and a high mountain. A relief soon escaped everyone as they got closer to the beach.

"Nothing like the ocean to get everyone in a calming mood," Bearmon said excitedly.

"At last! Come on everybody in the water!" Penguinmon called making his way to the water. Everyone stared in astonishment at the site. The group ran to the water in hopes of getting more of a relaxation.

"Someone help me make a sand castle, I want to make a giant one!" declared Kisho finding some energy to run. Labramon was at Kisho's heels determined to help him.

"I wish I brought my bathing suit, it would have been fun," Tora moaned.

Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon sighed in exasperation at the others childish behaviour. Yumi noticed that Yukito wasn't fully partaking within the foolishness. He took his time catching up. Robert stayed with him; there was no reason for him to get too excited over anything anyway. Instead of joining the others, Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Puppymon and Renamon all made their way up the cliff to get away from the others and to get a better idea of where exactly they are.

"Don't you think you were just a little hard on them Victoria?" Renamon asked sitting down allowing her legs to dangle over the edge along with Victoria. Yumi, Kiva and Puppymon paced in the background looking behind them.

"No, they needed to hear it, if they have a massive problem with me acting this way they can go off on their own," Victoria responded staring off into the ocean spacing out.

"Victoria, you need to calm it down a bit, you don't need this on you," Renamon replied getting concerned.

"I'll relax after everyone stops bitching and complaining. Everyone needs to learn that we work as a team no matter how dysfunctional we are. Besides we all have one goal in mind and that's finding a way home."

Back on the beach the others continued to make their way toward the ocean, but a noise sounded confusing them. It almost sounded like a ringing sound of a phone.

"What in the world? What is that?"

"A phone!" cried out James after the group stopped running and listened carefully to the sound.

"Or we're all hearing things," Tora said raising her eyebrow in puzzled.

Further down the beach a row of evenly spaced telephone booths sat on the beach looking completely out of place. Their eyes widened in astonishment seeing the phones, they were saved. The kids ran toward them eager to get in touch with some other humans.

"We're saved, I can't believe it. We are saved!" cried out James. Yukito rolled his eyes.

James headed for the first booth to grab the ringing phone, but once the door opened it stopped ringing. James just stood there not understanding what just happened.

"How come it stopped ringing James?" Bearmon asked curiously coming next to him.

"Wrong number?"

"This is becoming weirder and weirder," Tora said.

"Wonder why these are here in the first place?" inquired Kisho.

"So people can call their parents for a ride home when they are lost," James said.

"Parents? What exactly is a parent?" inquired Bearmon curiously looking up at James.

"You're joking right?" James asked.

"Does anybody have any loose change?" Yukito asked now getting curious about what was going on with the group.

"Change for what?"

"I'm going to make a phone call to get some help," Yukito said stubbornly.

"What do you think there's a chance of a quarter in one of the slots?" Kisho replied excitedly.

Kisho ran to the phones while Yukito put in a card in his phone. He prayed and hoped that he could get a hold of someone.

"I'm going to hook up to the internet," Robert proclaimed sitting on the ground typing away at his keyboard.

"I'm calling collect over here," Mark said making his way to one beside Yukito's booth.

"Dibs on booth four!" called out Tora.

"Hey where did Renamon, Puppymon, Kiva, Yumi and Victoria go to?" asked Labramon now looking around. No one else seem to notice that the dark girls disappeared.

"Hello? Mom it's me!" Yukito said.

"At the tone the time will be exactly forty-five miles per hour. And ninety seconds," replied an operator.

"Something is wrong, that or mom has completely lost it," James said.

"Tomorrow's forecast calls for clear skies with occasional ice cream," replied another operator in Tora's booth. Tora raised her eyebrow looking at Lalamon.

"I think this phone is broke."

Mark and Kisho were in the other booth listening to the operator talking nonsense. "This number only exists in your imagination. Please hang up and don't call back."

"What the heck did I just dial?"

"This is so not a funny joke. What is going on here?" asked Kisho.

"I have this weird feeling about all of this, but why?" asked James.

"Has anyone checked the last phone booth?" suggested Tentomon.

"If the others weren't working, I doubt that one will give us any information," replied Lalamon

"No telephones are working in your service area. Hang up and have a nice day."

"What are the chances of this one giving us any details?" Yukito said.

"To leave a message, press one now. To leave a fingerprint, press two now. Fifteen dollars for the next three minutes."

Yukito let out a groan as he hung up the receiver hitting his head on the phone box. The others sat on the beach relaxing. Tora was completely exhausted, she didn't know what was worse, having Victoria and Yumi treating them like soldiers or just being on their feet for the last couple of hours. Lalamon rested in her lap cuddling up to her to keep her company.

Close by Kisho was resting his head on Labramon's back as the poor digimon lay on the ground exhausted, Labramon was close to sleep. Gaomon sat next to Mark who had his head resting on his knees.

"I'm going to try and find a boat or at least something to help us," James said still on his feet.

"It'll be a better idea if we stay here, we all need to rest," Mark said.

"Has anyone seen the dark sisters? They disappeared before we went to the beach," Bearmon wondered aloud looking around at the small group seeing that three were missing from the beach.

"That's actually a good question," James answered looking around at the empty beach.

"They're probably looking for some food, because I know I am getting pretty hungry myself," Robert admitted listening to his stomach growl.

"It's because we haven't eaten anything all day. Okay, break time, everybody!" James declared.

"Ahh. Does anybody else have any food? All I have is…hmm? Is that gadget that fell from the sky at camp," Tora explained taking the digivice from the pocket prior searching her bag.

"I forgot about all those weird things," Yukito said taking out his own device.

"What are they anyway?" Kisho asked.

"We wouldn't have them if they weren't important," Mark admitted.

"Wonder how easy it is to take it apart…" Robert muttered examining the small device along the sides for a way to open it. A loud growl sounded from the pit of his stomach. "We definitely need to get something to eat, I'm famished."

"Well, the only thing I have is my mini-telescope," James said placing the thing on the ground.

"Sorry, but I don't have anything either."

"I have some food we can share. It's not much but at least it's something," Kisho piped up opening his bag revealing a stash of junk food.

"Holy jack pot little man. When did you get all of this?" Mark asked surprised.

"Just before we left."

"Want to be a good little boy and share those treats with me?" Tora asked sweetly now sitting up.

"I'm always happy to share Tora."

"Tora, this is been nagging me for so long, what the heck do you have in that bag of yours?" Robert asked.

"Umm…a compass, cooking fuel, flashlight and an army knife."

The five dropped their jaws seeing the items on the ground. Tora just looked at them quizzically.

"Why didn't you tell us you had a compass back when we needed one?" Mark asked.

"It's broke actually, I was hoping it wasn't."

"Okay, seriously, you all have ignored this question, where's Yumi, Victoria and Kiva?" asked James returning to the group after searching the beach.

"Uh…James, look up," Bearmon suggested, his voice sounded slightly annoyed as if something would have been an easy one to see.

James raised an eyebrow at his digimon perplexed. Deciding to give in, he looked up to the cliff above to see Victoria and Renamon sitting at the edge of the cliff staring at the ocean. Both seemed to be in a deep conversation over something. Yumi and Kiva randomly appeared into view behind them, and then disappeared, but James had a feeling that they were probably pacing.

"Found them, they're on the cliff," James assured. "Victoria! Renamon! Do you want something to eat?"

There was no response from the two, but it didn't stop them from looking down upon the small group. In seconds the two exchanged looks before looking behind them obviously talking with Yumi and Kiva.

"This could be one interesting adventure," sighed James finally taking a seat on the sand.

In moments, Yumi, Kiva, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon rejoined the group. Kiva and Puppymon sat outside of the small circle closest to the shadows, while Victoria, Yumi and Renamon sat just outside the circle refusing to be apart of the group.

"What were you saying about food?" Victoria asked looking around hoping to see some sort of pile of food.

"Well we were trying to figure out if anyone had any food on them. Kisho has junk food, which could last for a short amount of time. No one else has anything," James explained.

Victoria looked at Yumi with annoyance before taking off her carrier bag. She got to her feet took a step or two before kneeling behind Bearmon and Gaomon. Placing the bag on the ground, she took out four containers of vegetables and fruit. The four containers were packed, enough to feed enough people.

"We have more, but this should do the trick for a while."

Their jaws dropped open staring in disbelief at the big containers of food.

"What is your problem? It's as if you haven't seen food before," Victoria commented looking between each person.

"But...how…where?" the six stammered.

"Do you want them or not? Yumi, Renamon, Kiva, Puppymon and I can easily finish this off."

"So how are we going to split this up? There's nine people in the group times three days, times three meals…" James said.

"Exclude us from the calculation boy. I have enough for the three of us. Deal it between yourselves."

"All right, so that six people times three days, times three meals that comes to…"

"Fifty-four meal," Robert simply said.

"Uh…right. So split evenly between us, we have…"

"Enough food for three days."

"You do realize that there is enough for everyone no matter what. I have a ton more where that came from," Victoria remarked returning to sit with Renamon, Kiva, Puppymon and Yumi in the shadows.

"Oh, well then, I guess that changes everything."

"Besides, you don't have to worry about us, we are able to hunt and forage for ourselves," Gaomon said.

"Are you sure Labramon?" Kisho asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me."

With no more arguments, the group nearly dived into the pile of food wanting to eat.

In the small group, Kiva was completely zoned out writing in her notepad. Puppymon lay besides her resting. Yumi looked like she was no longer there any more. Her black headset was in her ears drowning out the sounds of what was around her. Her eyes were closed disappearing into her own world. Renamon sat in a meditative pose not even worrying about the world around her.

"You four hungry?" Victoria asked sitting down next to Renamon.

Kiva looked up nodding her head before looking back at her notepad. Her pen moved over the paper like there was no tomorrow. Victoria could tell she had a lot of hurt going on inside and wanted to get it out. The three girls had been friends for four years already and both she and Yumi knew half of Kiva's life. Kiva was mute; it was a mix between choice and everything around her causing her to never utter a word. Puppymon obviously knew of her quietness hence the reason he did the talking for her.

Yumi was still spaced out; her eyes still closed focusing on the music. Her face showed no expression whatsoever. Victoria understood that Yumi was still sour about not receiving a digimon. Obviously it'll take a while for her to learn to accept what has happened.

Victoria pulled out a couple of containers with fruit inside. Victoria herself knew her stomach could refrain from food for hours on end. Yumi was the same; Victoria could see her friend go days with absolutely no food nearly starving herself. Kiva on the other hand didn't seem to be affected by what she did. She'd barely gained weight ever after having a big meal.

"Dig in, I'm not going to have any, I'm not hungry," Victoria lied.

Kiva and Renamon both reached to grab a handful on fruit. Victoria lover her variety of mixed berries. As Kiva sat there she gave some to Puppymon knowing full well he would need the strength. Renamon was grateful in her own way, although her expression never changed. Yumi still sat there caring less about the food, she rather keep to herself for some time.

As everyone ate, Penguinmon relaxed on the water waiting for fish to come to him. Lalamon hovered in the air staring the water as a weird feeling came over her. A rumbling sound came from the sand as a large burst of water shoot high into the air acting as a warning. The six kids saw this and freaked out deserting their spots running to a safer location as the sand continued to shift. Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon got to their knees ready to attack immediately. Whatever was going on in the sand, the telephone booths were knocked far into the air with the great force.

"What in the world is going on?" asked Robert in shock watching the phone booths dropping to the beach mangled and broken. From the sand emerged a huge horned shell type creature facing the children.

"Shellmon!" cried out Bearmon.

"What is a Shellmon?" asked James curiously.

"Something that gets mad for no reason!" replied Bearmon.

"Great, two attacks in one day, can things get any worse?" asked Yukito rolling his eyes. With that two giant legs came from the shell and a head with an angry expression.

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva let out a frustrated groan getting to their feet, their arms raised in a fighting stance. Renamon and Puppymon were preparing to run toward the new creature.

"Everybody, up here!" shouted Yukito, who was climbing up the cliff that Yumi, Victoria and Kiva previously occupied only minutes ago. But before he could reach the top, Shellmon blew out a jet of water from the top of his head knocking Yukito back to the ground in front of the three girls.

"Yukito, are you all right?" shouted Penguinmon concerned and angry all at once.

Hearing his shouts, Shellmon turns to where Penguinmon stood in the water sending a blast of water toward him. Bearmon, Lalamon, Gaomon, Tentomon and Labramon turned their attention toward the attacking digimon angry that it was going to harm them. Renamon and Puppymon remained by Kiva and Victoria's side preparing for battle.

"Digimon, attack!" shouted Bearmon

"Go Bearmon, show him what your made of!" cried out James watching his digimon run toward the giant digimon.

"Bear fist!"

"Double backhand!" shouted Gaomon spinning around creating a vortex.

"Seed shot!" cried out Lalamon seeds from her mouth, there was an explosion on contact.

"Rhino spin!" shouted Tentomon rolling toward Shellmon as electricity consumed his body.

Bearmon's fist collided with Shellmon's body but to no avail. Gaomon, Lalamon and Tentomon's attacks didn't even affect him.

"What's going on? Why didn't their attacks work?" asked Mark.

"Their losing their powers, but how?" Robert asked.

There was another blast of water toward the smaller digimon. None of them had any chance of escaping the blast. Tentomon, Gaomon, Bearmon and Lalamon were thrown backwards.

"Bearmon, please be okay!" James said holding back his yearning to run.

"Retriever bark!" Labramon barked in a loud high frequency back.

Despite his efforts his bark failed as well. Shellmon knocks Labramon away with a swipe of his head. Victoria, Yumi and Kiva all stood in the background watching their futile attempts of attacks.

"Renamon, help them out, they won't be able to take him on!" Victoria calmly said not looking at her digimon. She knew that Renamon understood quite well.

Kiva gave Puppymon a quick sign language move to Puppymon who nodded his head. The two digimon ran toward Shellmon determined now more than ever to take him down.

"Puppy claw!" yelled Puppymon jumping into the air and diving down to Shellmon his claws glowing bright silver as he started to scratch Shellmon.

"Diamond Storm!" screamed Renamon as she summoned a cloud of razor-sharp shards. In seconds she sends the shards toward Shellmon with no mercy.

Both their attacks were more affective then the others. Shellmon took a step back on the beach as he tried to recover from the attack.

"Why is it only Renamon and Puppymon are able to take him?" Yukito asked.

"We're far too hungry to fight," Penguinmon admitted barely able to stand.

"Gaomon, you all right buddy?" Mark asked now at his digimon's side.

"I don't have any strength…" Gaomon weakly said.

"That's it! Renamon and Puppymon were the only ones who actually ate," Tora said now understanding what was going on.

"Now I see!"

"That must mean the other digimon must have no strength left."

"Renamon, Puppymon, looks like the two of you are the only ones left!" Victoria called out.

Puppymon and Renamon kept up their attacks on Shellmon as everyone ran toward their digimon to make sure they were okay.

"Puppymon, I need a diversion, I can't get close to him while he's sending out his water blasts!" Renamon called diving from the attack. Puppymon nodded his head running behind Shellmon to do a sneak attack. Kiva and Victoria could see that Shellmon was on to their little plan. He prepared himself for attacking Puppymon.

"Puppymon, look out!" cried out Victoria running toward the fight.

Before Puppymon could dodge the attack he went flying back to where Kiva stood. She ran toward him scared that he was hurt. She fell to her knees as she petted his fur. Puppymon weakly raised his head to look at her eyes then laid it on the ground.

"Yo ugly! Come and get me!" Victoria yelled flinging a hand full of sand into Shellmon's eyes.

"Victoria, no!" screamed Yumi.

"Is she crazy?" Tora asked panic stricken.

As Shellmon recovered from the sand, he stared threateningly at Victoria who was backing away toward the phone booths, refusing to turn her back on him. Renamon attacks him from the side with fire. As Victoria got close to the rubble she tripped on a long pole knocking herself to the ground. Refusing to give into the fall, she picked up the pole from underneath her. She picked herself up never losing eye contact as she ran around to the side to hit Shellmon in the shell. Without knowing it a long vine grew from Shellmon's head lifting up the pole along with Victoria refusing to let go.

"Victoria, hang on!" Renamon screamed seeing Victoria dangling in the air.

Shellmon knocks Renamon to the ground holding him immobile beneath his foot. Triumphantly, Shellmon aims a blast of water at the other kids and their digimon.

"Look out!" Victoria screamed worried about her friends and the other campers. "He's going to get everyone, and all I can do is just hang here!" Victoria lets out a deafening scream of pain as Shellmon binds her tighter in the vine.

"Victoria!" screamed Renamon struggling underneath the pressure of Shellmon's foot. "DIGIVOLVE!"

A bright light began to glow brightly underneath Shellmon, Victoria and the others watched surprised.

"What the hell? What's going on?"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

Shellmon flung Victoria out of the way having her land on the sand in a thud as the tall digimon suddenly changes into a large yellow fox type with nine tails with a white mane and mystical blue flames flaring around her paws and tail tips.

"Wow! I can't believe she did it again. Now she's Kyubimon!" Victoria said finally able to sit up to stare at the new digimon.

Shellmon charged forward toward his new opponent while Kyubimon ran toward him. Shellmon went to fire a stream of water at Kyubimon who counters it with a stream of fire from her tail. Shellmon relents first giving Kyubimon the advantage of the pause by jumping into the air spinning very fault.

"Dragon wheel!" Kyubimon shouted as a flame on her body erupted into a fiery inferno. A swirling ball of blue fire engulfs her entire body. A mystical dragon appears emerging from her body aiming toward Shellmon. The attack came fast sending the shell creature out over to the sea. There was a large splash from the sea indicating that Shellmon was finally taking a swim to cool off. As she stood there Kyubimon returned back to Renamon who dropped to her knees in exhaustion. Victoria stared wide-eyed at Renamon fear forming over her body as she ran toward her.

"Renamon are you all right?" Victoria asked concerned placing her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm all right. I guess I should have taken it easy," admitted Renamon with a laugh.

Victoria lowered her head on Renamon's arm giving a soft laugh that could be only heard between the two.

Yumi made her way toward the two and helped them up. Victoria was just as tired as Renamon was. The three made their way over to the group who were all standing there excited that Shellmon was now out of their way.

"Come on, let's get some food into us, especially after all of this, we need it," Mark said collapsing on the ground.

"I agree."

The nine children sat on the ground along with the eight digimon. Kiva, Yumi, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon stayed in their little group just outside the bigger group. Everyone dug into the food that put in front of them.


	4. Puppymon's new look

**A/N: All right here is chapter 4, hope this is just as good as the last one. Remember I'm not trying to follow along with the TV series, believe me after this chapter it won't be anywhere near what has happened in the series. I know, I actually got this done on time lol. Once again a big thanks to San of the wolves for commenting. San, this chapter is so for you.**

Chapter 4

Puppymon's new look

Everyone needed to keep moving, who was to say what was to happen next? Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon were back sitting on top of the cliff overlooking the sea. The others stood behind the girls staring at the sea as well. Quietness over took the group.

'_Our searching have taken us half way over this island, no one else have been around except for us. Now that Renamon has been able to digivolve to her next form I know that we can take on any digimon with no worry,' _Victoria thought to herself as she embraced a cool breeze that fluttered from the sea.

"Do you think that the other digimon will be able to take on their next forms too?" Kisho asked.

Victoria turned her head to see the little boy standing right behind her with Labramon standing next to him. She could see that he was eager to see his digimon's next form.

"Yeah, probably, I don't see why it wouldn't," Victoria replied with a shrug as she looked back at the water.

Before she could be swept into the silence again a roar sounded behind them causing the six whom were standing to gasp and turn around to see a large grey monster crash through a wall of rock. It looked like a weirdly formed Rhino.

"What kind of digimon is that?" Robert asked.

"It's called a Monochromon. Don't worry about him, he's a laid back digimon. Although it is wise to be a bit cautious with a Monochromon. They tend to get a bit miffed when they're hungry," Tentomon explained.

"Reminds me of one of our Rhino's at home, among other territory type creatures," Yumi replied now standing up to take a look at the digimon.

"Seems to be hungry to me, because he looks really mad!" Kisho said.

"I think he wants to eat us!" Tora said holding on to Lalamon scared.

Victoria and Kiva joined Yumi's side looking at the Monochromon. Puppymon sniffed the air curiously, there was something else there that shouldn't belong. Another loud roar sounded behind them. The sound made Puppymon and Labramon to growl furiously at the new creature.

"Great, now there's two of them! How did we get so lucky with this?" Victoria asked irritated.

The nine kids ran behind a nearby boulder to escape the deadly attacks by the Monochromon's. Both charged at one another locking their horns together and smashed rocks along the way. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva stared wide-eyed at the scene, the three knew that if they stayed in the area any longer they could have been killed.

"Understandable that they are fighting, but what in the world are they fighting over?" asked Yumi.

"Territory," replied Renamon.

"You know what they can have it because we don't want to get caught in the middle of their fight," Yukito said.

The three chaos girls were the first ones to take off into the forest followed closely by Yukito holding Penguinmon and the others.

"There is definitely no need for us to just hang around," James said.

Behind them the Monochromon continued their brutal fighting as the group got further and further away from them. Kisho didn't pay attention to where his footing was going to land causing him to trip on the ground thanks to a twig that rested on the ground. Kisho let out a small cry of pain as he landed on his knees. Labramon nudged Kisho's arm to make sure that he was all right. Mark ran to his brother's side helping him to his feet. Kisho brushed off the dirt on his pants. Everyone was far ahead of him except for his brother. Yumi and James were the only ones to stick behind to make sure that Kisho was all right.

"Come on Kisho, we need to keep up," Mark said urging his brother forward.

"Hurry up you two, you don't want to be left behind do you?" Yumi called turning around.

"We're coming," Kisho called running toward James and Yumi.

As the sun began to set, the children and their digimon walked through a thick forest with road signs posted at odd angles throughout the underbrush. The chaos girls were up ahead staring at the oddness that was the forest. Kiva and Puppymon were in a deep conversation via their minds. Yumi and Victoria knew what was going on and refused to interfere with their conversation.

"How much exercise does one need in one day?" asked Yukito sighing as he slowed down his pace as he stretched his arms.

"Well, if we can find a proper place to rest we will, until then we have to keep moving," James said walking past him.

"I don't care how much soccer I play, this is killing my feet," moaned Tora stopping at a tree to move her ankles in small circular motion. She rested her back against the tree itself as she let out a sigh.

"You should take off your shoes and socks, maybe you'll feel better Tora," Bearmon offered.

Tora looked down at the bear digimon her eyebrow raised questioning. "As much as you might be right, I don't wish to get my feet dirty."

"It appears that our light source will no longer be with us any more," Robert informed everyone.

Up ahead Yumi, Victoria and Kiva let out a sigh as they rested upon a tree waiting for the others. It was no longer a rush to get somewhere, it was official they weren't going to be able to find anyone else. Nighttime was more of their wake up call then anything else. Renamon looked down at Victoria to see her close to sleep.

"We need to find a place soon, I don't think Yumi, Victoria or Kiva are going to be able to keep their eyes open any longer," called Renamon to the others who finally got close enough to the chaos triplets.

"This whole island is strange. Whose to say what's going to come at night," Robert said answering a question.

"Things that go bump in the night," answered a tired Victoria who was now on Renamon's back. Her eyes were barely open.

"I smell water. Stay here, I'm going to check it out," Puppymon said taking off ahead of the group to take a look to see what was to be expected.

"I thought so. I was right, there's a lake up ahead, fresh, clean water, and obviously abundant of a fish too," Puppymon said returning to the group. "It's a perfect campsite."

"Oh thank the gods," Yumi said raising her head a tiny bit.

"Yes, now I can soak my feet," Tora cheered finally taking off her shoes and socks.

"Knew that wasn't going to last," Yumi said.

"Yay we can go swimming," Penguinmon said.

The group made their way toward the location of the water that Puppymon saw. On Puppymon's back lay a tired Kiva. She needed a massive wake up call, and it didn't matter what the wake up call was. Yumi dragged her feet behind Renamon and beside Puppymon. The others seemed to be more on the wake side, which was surprising after all the complaining they did.

The shore came to view in matter of minutes. It looked amazing, this was exactly what the group needed.

"It's definitely going to be safe to rest here for the night," Renamon said kneeling to slide Victoria off her back who landed on her feet staring in wonder. She saw the water and was tempted to dive in hoping the cold water would wake her for the next little while.

"Camping, yay," Yumi sarcastically said sitting at the edge of the water staring at her reflection.

"This is perfect, camping under the stars is the best way to spend the night," Tora said sitting next to Yumi soaking her feet. Yumi turned her head slightly to stare at Tora in a way to say "what makes you think you can sit beside me?" But she never voiced it, she didn't want to deal with anything right now.

Victoria sat on Yumi's other side splashing the cold water on her face. She looked a little more wide awake, mind that some of her foundation did run, but it wasn't bothering her.

Hanging with the other group, Kiva sat on the ground leaning against Puppymon, her eyes still blurring over with sleep. She wasn't totally comprehending what was being said or who was saying it. Finding her strength, Kiva stood up along with Puppymon and made her way into a forest to get away from everyone. She wanted to tell Yumi and Victoria where she was going, but she wanted to be on her own to let out her anger that seemed to be bottling up inside of her

Back at the small campsite, everyone took on a role to help get dinner put together. Robert and Kisho were sitting at the shore, Robert held on to a makeshift fishing pole waiting for a bite. Further up on the shore, James, Mark and Yukito were standing around a small circle of rocks and kindling but with no fire. Victoria and Yumi were wondering the forest in the opposite direction that Kiva went. Both girls were in search for any sign of fruit, anything that could be helpful. Tora and Lalamon were looking for mushrooms down another path.

At the shore where Robert and Kisho sat, Penguinmon swam in the water carefree just enjoying the water. He was making his way toward Robert and Kisho, a fish was in his mouth already.

"Penguinmon, you have got to stop playing in the water, this is getting annoying with you either scaring away the fish or warning them."

On the shore, Tentomon, Bearmon, Gaomon, and Labramon were hanging around a tree collecting fruit. Tentomon had some food in his claws already eating some of the fruit.

"This is delicious," Tentomon said happily.

Labramon stared at the tree branch concentrating upon the fruit. He looked like if he concentrated hard enough the fruit would move on their own. He sent out his retriever bark at a bunch of bananas knocking them off the tree where Bearmon jumped into the air slicing the bananas that landed in a pile on top of some leaves that were laid out to catch the fruit. Tentomon rose up to a higher branch where some apples were waiting to be picked.

In the forest, Victoria and Yumi were picking berries from a bush and placing them in a piece of clothing that was used for collecting. Renamon kept jumping from branch to branch searching for more fruit that couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

"Hey, have you seen Kiva?" Yumi finally asked looking around.

"No, I haven't seen her since we first arrived at the spot," admitted Victoria looking around the forest.

"Girls, I see her. We'll drop off the food and make our way in the other direction," Renamon said landing on her feet beside the girls seconds later.

"Wonder what's going through her mind?" pondered Yumi.

Down the opposite side of the group Kiva kept making her way through the forest until she came up to a rock where she could sit and think things through. Puppymon neither asked what was wrong or questioned where they were going. He knew that something was on her mind and she was yearning to get it out.

Finally able to sit on the rock, Puppymon sat in front of her like any dog would waiting for a treat. Kiva didn't say anything to him just yet, only stared into space for the longest time. Puppymon could sense that she was finally opening up to him. Hurt could be sensed within her, he never felt this much from her when he first met her. He considered the fact that she was waiting until the right moment.

'_Puppymon I want you to promise me something,'_ Kiva thought staring into his eyes.

"Anything Kiva."

'_I never told my friends this, even till this day none of them know. I want to tell Yumi and Victoria but I don't want to worry them.'_

"Kiva come on, you can tell me. I can already feel the hurt within you, but I don't want to pry any further if you are willing to tell me."

'_Before coming here, mom and I would fight constantly. Well she would fight with me, I try to ignore it because she's not really right in the head, but I shouldn't allow that to be an excuse. She would abuse me, hit me, strike me. I still carry the scars with me. It never got like this when I was younger, I had my father at least who was at my side. But he passed away three years ago and my mom's mental health turned for the worse. You have no idea how bad I want to get out of that hell hole, but I don't want to leave her, just not let,'_ Kiva explained rolling up her sleeves to reveal marks on her arms caused by her mother.

"Why haven't you ever told anyone?" Puppymon asked lifting himself up on his hind legs to view the scars more carefully.

'_I don't want them to worry about me. This isn't any of their concern just mine. Puppymon please don't tell anyone,'_ Kiva pleaded.

"I won't, I'm glad that you can trust me," Puppymon said jumping into her lap and curling up.

'_Thank you Puppymon.'_

"What else is on your mind?"

'_When I was younger I never liked being touched, hugged or cuddled, and when I was at the age where most children would be talking I never spoke a word and no one understood why.'_

"You truly are a complex person aren't you?"

'_That's just who I am. Yumi and Victoria know to about me not talking which is all good. They also know that I write down all my frustrations, and anger down.'_

Both sat on the rock for another five minutes when Yumi, Victoria and Renamon appeared through the forest to the small clearing where Kiva sat petting Puppymon.

"Kiva, you okay?" Yumi asked kneeling in front of Kiva,

"She's fine, she just wanted to get something off her chest," replied Puppymon.

"You are just the best," Yumi said to Puppymon.

The chaos triplets sat in silence for the longest time listening to all the weird sounds of the forest in the digital world. They could hear the voices of the others kids wondering where they could have gotten to.

"Do we have to return to the group, I don't want to deal with everyone else, this is why I didn't want to go to summer camp in the first place," Victoria said.

"Yeah, as much as I don't want to deal with them any more than you do, I don't want to deal with a search party," Yumi said forcing herself to her feet.

"I swear I will leave if they piss me off."

"There isn't much to piss you off."

'_She's not the only one,'_ thought Kiva petting Puppymon's head.

"Kiva agrees with you on that."

Back at the site James continued to attempt lighting the fire. Mark and Yukito continued to stand around waiting somewhat patient with James' failed attempts.

"Do you guys need any help with that?" Renamon asked watching James continue to like the kindling.

"What did you…"

Renamon concentrated on her power and struck the fire pit with her paw, instantly a fire came to life on the kindling. Renamon looked pleased with herself.

"And this is why you always carry matches or lighters," Yumi said sitting in front of the fire her hands outstretched feeling the warmth on her hands.

"Thanks Renamon," James said. Renamon didn't say anything to them, she just sat cross legged beside Yumi ready to go into a meditative state.

Soon Kisho and Robert returned to the pit carrying a large pile of fish on a bunch of branches. This was definitely going to be a great meal, fruit and fish always a best choice.

"Check out this guys," Kisho said happily showing everyone the collection of fish. There was enough there to feed the group twice.

"I can't believe how much fish we actually caught," Robert said.

"Way to go Robert, let's dig in."

James takes his fish over to the fire to cook it. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva decided to take their share of fish, although they could have lasted another little while with no food.

"Thanks little man," Mark said to his brother taking a fish on a stick before walking over to the first. James is gingerly holding a fish by the tail above the flame. It was a no brainer that he was nervous about getting close to the flame.

"This is why a microwave would come in hand," James said.

"Me too, because dude, you are about to lose you fingers if you keep that up. Why don't you use a stick. It'll be better than loosing your digits."

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva sat by the fire their fish on long sticks. It felt like they were cooking marshmallows. Renamon merely ate her fish raw, she didn't care for a cooked fish. Puppymon did the same, like a wolf he put one of his paw's over top of the fish while he tore into it.

After a while everyone rejoined the circle around the fire eating fish and fruit, Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were satisfied with their consumption of food. Everyone else seemed to be just as appreciated of the food.

"This is so delicious," Lalamon said.

"Can't argue with that," Tora replied.

"Can we have seconds?" Kisho asked smiling, Labramon sat next to Kisho his tail wagging side to side.

Everyone laughed at Kisho's eagerness. It was good to have a laugh once in awhile. The only ones not to be laughing were Yumi, Victoria and Kiva who were now sitting cross legged along with Renamon who were all deep in meditation. Puppymon lay beside Kiva close to exhaustion.

After an hour or so, Labramon let out a yawn as he lay upon the ground next to Kisho.

"Aw, Labramon is tired," Kisho said feeling the exhaustion build up inside of him.

Lalamon could no longer keep her eyes open any more and fell asleep next to Penguinmon who was already out cold. James let out a yawn upon looking at the sleeping digimon.

"I'm getting extremely tired myself," James admitted stretching his arms high into the air.

"We can't all go to sleep, we should take turns standing guard encase of an attack," Yukito said.

"Who wants to go first?" Robert asked.

"Why not each of us take turns standing guard for an hour?" suggested Tora.

"That sounds great, but not Kisho," Mark said.

"Mark why not, I can stand guard too," Kisho replied as a yawn took over.

"Because of that, you are far too young for this, you need your sleep. Your close to falling asleep as it is."

"We'll stand guard if that means everyone will stop arguing," Yumi said opening her eyes and glaring up at the others.

"Well at least that's taken care of, but who will take over for the last little while?" James asked.

"Don't worry about it, we can handle it."

"Brr. It is getting cold out, I knew I should have brought a blanket with me," Tora said rubbing her arms.

"Maybe you want to keep your eyes open Renamon, Tora might sneak up on you and steal your fur," James teased grabbing Renamon's tail. Her eyes flashed open turning to face James, anger registering in her eyes.

"Let the tail go!" Renamon seethed.

"James stop being such a child!" Mark said.

"Ooh! What's bugging you? She's not your digimon."

"No, she's not. How would you like it if someone did that to Bearmon?" Mark responded pushing James in the shoulder.

"You can't tell me what to do!" James shot back angrily.

Mark now grabbed hold of James shirt and brought him closer to him. James did the exact same thing. Both were on the verge of getting into a fight.

"Knock it off right now!" shouted Kisho.

"You two are acting like a bunch of two year olds. Mark I thank you for standing up for Renamon, but I ask that you don't, James has already gotten a warning from her!" Victoria threatened standing up pulling the two apart. Mark and James let out a huff before turning their backs on each other.

"There, that's better. Get some shut eye, we'll keep a look out," Victoria said returning back to her meditative position.

Without any more arguments, everyone collapsed on to the ground next to their digimon. Kisho wrapped his arm around Labramon as he got comfortable on the ground. Labramon sensed his presence next to him and moved closer to Kisho to keep him warm. James on the other side of the fire curling up with Bearmon to get the extra warmth. Tora was lying close to where Kisho lay, curling up into a ball with Lalamon resting on top of her knees.

Yukito laid on his back with Penguinmon standing next to him sleeping. Mark leaned against a tree away from the fire falling asleep with Gaomon sitting next to him already dozing off. Robert on the other hand lay by the water with a sleeping Tentomon. He could sleep just yet, he wanted to stare up at the stars for hours on end to figure out the constellations.

As for the chaos triplets, they took up their watch on a high rock away from the fire and the water. The chaos triplets continued to sit in their meditative position for hours. Renamon had already gotten out of her state at just sat on the rock over looking everything. She could see how peaceful everyone was sleeping. Looking back at her own partner she could see how serene she seemed when she got into her own state of mine. Something that none of the others would never see. Next to Victoria was Yumi who was in between a calm state and an unsettling state. Renamon had yet to learn what was bothering her partner's friend. There seemed to be so much pain within her that needed to come out and it was more than just the problem of finding her own digimon.

On the other hand Kiva sat next to both girls completing their circle, her expression as ever was unreadable, there was so much that no one could read from her. Renamon was sure that Puppymon knew what was bothering his partner.

Standing up Renamon jumped up to the ground below to take a walk just to keep her awake for the next little while. She knew that Victoria, Yumi and Kiva were safe on top of the rock, besides she could easily return to her side in a second. She returned to the fire where the others remained asleep. She sat down on the ground staring at the flames. The embers were slowly starting to die down. Picking up a stick Renamon shifted some of the kindling to keep the embers alive. A burning piece of wood popped from the fire and flew up and landed a few feet away narrowly missing Kisho and Labramon. The piece of burning wood landed on a flat red area of the beach that didn't seem to belong. Renamon got to her feet staring at it in wonder as it started to move causing the ground to shake causing her to fall back to the ground.

"What the?" Renamon asked confused.

A wave began to form in the sea causing Renamon to look out into the sea to see a huge yellow head of a green sea monster emerge from the waves. Renamon got on one knee preparing to lunge at the mysterious creature. The monster towered over the beach growling at her. This brings Victoria, Yumi, and Kiva out of their meditation and Puppymon out of his sleep. Robert and Tentomon let out a scream of fear seeing the giant sea creature.

It didn't take long before everyone else woke up scared to see the large creature. Tora grabbed hold of Lalamon and moved backwards bumping into Kisho who was hugging Labramon in fear. Mark opened his eyes in alarm, adrenaline pumped through his veins as he ran toward his brother.

"What is that creature?" Tora asked, now sitting next to Kisho. She wrapped her arm around him to protect him.

"That's Seadramon!" Lalamon said.

"Where's he taking us?" Kisho asked scared, he buried his head into Tora's arm.

Seadramon raced through the water taking the land with it along with James, Bearmon, who were now awake and on their feet ready to attack the creature and the others. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva held on to the rock with dear life fearing that they would fall to the ground.

"This is going to be a bumpy ride," Gaomon called out.

"He's pulling up along by his tail. I don't think he realized we're here," Robert said when he was with the group again.

"He's a bit dense, so there might be a chance that we're here. As long as he doesn't see us we should be fine."

As Tentomon was talking, Renamon could sense the fear of the girls causing her to run to their rescue and leave the sea dragon alone. Seadramon pulled out his tail that was burned by the burning wood away from the island, he used his tail whipping Renamon off her feet as she got closer to the rock.

"Renamon!" screamed Victoria finally letting go of the rock.

"No, I think he does," Renamon groaned struggling to get to her feet with the help of Victoria. "I knew there was something strange about the red patch on the ground."

Using its tail once again, it knocked Renamon, Victoria off their feet, and Yumi Kiva and Puppymon off the rock sending them flying to the ground.

"He's coming back, he doesn't look too happy though," James said now getting to his feet.

Seadramon disappeared from sight and swam under the water, silence filled the group for a moment until another shock came over the island.

"He's moving the island make to the shore!" yelled Renamon bracing herself for the impact.

"We're going to crash!" Yukito shouted thinking that this was going to be the end.

As everyone panicked about the impact, the land stopped in the middle of the water, nothing moved, Seadramon didn't seem to be there any more.

"Great, he left us right in the middle of the bloody lake," Yumi moaned standing up.

"You don't think we could trick him into taking us back is there?" Robert asked looking around.

"Brace yourselves, he's coming back!" James screamed.

"Come on, let's send him back to the fishes!" shouted Bearmon. Everyone except for Renamon and Puppymon nodded their heads preparing for a fight.

"Lala screw!" Lalamon screamed spinning the leaf atop of her head as she flew toward Seadramon hoping to do some damage.

"Retriever bark!"

Neither attack seemed to do any damage to the giant sea creature. Bearmon, Gaomon, Tentomon and Penguinmon prepared to send their attacks.

"Bear roll!" Bearmon shouted aiming toward the side of Seadramon.

Tentomon flew up to get a better spot for attack. "Super shocker!"

"Speed bash!"

"Ice Prism!"

Seadramon roared in anger, not that the attacks were causing this, we was annoyed by the little digimon's useless attacks.

"Renamon, go!" Victoria shouted seeing her digimon ran toward the sea creature with all her might.

'_Puppymon they need your help!'_ Kiva thought seeing her digimon take off to meet Renamon.

"Power Paw!"

"Puppy claw!"

Their attacks were a little more affective, but it still didn't pose any problems to Seadramon. Victoria was getting worried that Seadramon was going to do more damage to Renamon and Puppymon. Kiva was at her side, her face was blank as normal, but her mind was spinning.

"Renamon, you need to digivolves!" Victoria screamed as Seadramon attacked again.

"I've been trying to Victoria, but I can't seem to find it in me to go the next form!"

"Renamon you have to!"

"I don't think my body has recovered from the last fight!" Renamon called back trying to hold off Seadramon while Puppymon went for the attack.

Kiva ran past Victoria heading toward the digimon hoping to protect them, or at least Puppymon. Puppymon and Renamon didn't see Kiva coming their way, but Seadramon did. Using his tail he slapped Kiva out of the way causing her to fall into the water. She emerged seconds later thrashing about trying to keep above the water.

"Kiva!" yelled Puppymon worried.

Kiva tried to keep her head above the water, she forced her legs to kick to keep her afloat. Seadramon took advantage of this. He looked down at Kiva growling. Kiva merely stared at him trying to force him to come after her.

"Puppy bite!" Puppymon shouted as he bit down on Seadramon's neck.

Seadramon let out a loud deafening roar and rearing back in pain. Using his tail he flicked Renamon and Puppymon off him. Both digimon flew out of the water and landing on the ground in a sickening thud.

"Renamon, are you all right?" Victoria yelled running toward her.

"Don't worry about us, get Kiva!" Puppymon commanded weakly getting to his feet.

Victoria looked up to see Kiva still thrashing about not being able to keep afloat. Yumi saw this as well and ran toward the shore. Yumi and the others didn't realize how quickly it all happened. Seadramon knocked Kiva further into the water before bringing her back up his tail wrapped around her body in a tight crushing grip.

"He might be a bubble brain but once he finds his prey, he won't let go!" Tentomon explained.

"Something that we didn't need to hear!" Yumi shouted back to Tentomon as she watched in horror as her friend struggled within the creatures grip.

"Someone has to do something.

'_Puppymon!'_ shouted Kiva in her mind.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Puppymon jumped into the air changing from his black puppy fur with silver paws and half black half silver half white tail. To being a fully black fur with white and silver spiral marks on his back, neck, face, around his eyes, paws, legs, on his stomach and tail. Wolfmon's tail is long like a wolf's but also has a devil point at the end. He has white fangs two of his canines poke out of the sides of his mouth. Wolfmon's eyes are now solely black with a white and silver spiral in the middle of his eyes. His ears are pointed and pierced with two silver earrings on the tips of ears. His ears are black, with white and silver spirals on them. Wolfmon's claws are silver and tipped white.

Wolfmon snarled at Seadramon threateningly as he jumped up slashing the tail freeing Kiva from Seadramon's grip. Kiva falls back in the water where she still forces herself to stay afloat. Yumi dived into the water to rescue her friend. Helping her back to the island both watch Wolfmon fight Seadramon tooth and claw. Wolfmon grabs hold of Seadramon by the neck refusing to let go, but Seadramon flicked him off with a whip of his tail, pushing him beneath the water.

'_No!'_ screamed Kiva in her mind watching Seadramon dive in after Wolfmon. She struggled against Yumi's grip. As much as Yumi knew that Kiva didn't like to be touch, she didn't want her to go back into the water.

"Kiva, calm down, there's nothing that we can do right now."

Kiva turned her head to look her friend in the eyes. Yumi had a determined look that everything was going to be all right.

As Kiva looked back to the water, Wolfmon rose up followed by Seadramon. Wolfmon spun around smacking Seadramon in the face with his tail. This caused the larger digimon to rear back in pain.

"Tentomon, who is that?" called Yumi.

"That's Wolfmon, he's determined to get stronger now matter what the cost is. .When he's really angry, his eyes will turn blood red making it difficult to tell friend from foe. Just don't call him Fakemon, you can send him into a rage of uncontrolled anger."

"That's really good to know," Yumi said watching the fight continue.

Seadramon opened its mouth sending out a blast of freezing air at Wolfmon. The water started to freeze causing Wolfmon to be covered as well. Kiva went into shock, she didn't like seeing her digimon be vulnerable.

"Seadramon's using his lethal Ice Blast!" informed Tentomon.

"Wolf blast!" A silvery white fire flame came out of this mouth aiming toward Seadramon. The attack struck him in the head burning him. Seadramon falls backward into the lake defeated. The kids on the shore excluding Yumi, Victoria and Kiva cheered. Yumi and Kiva stood up running toward the dedigivolved form of Puppymon. Puppymon was lying the on the island breathing heavily.

'_Puppymon, are you all right?'_ Kiva asked stroking his fur.

"Yeah, just great, I'm glad to see you okay," Puppymon said lifting his head.

'_You digivolved into Wolfmon just in time, thank you.'_

"How are we suppose to get back now?" Robert asked.

"Just trust me," Penguinmon said diving into the water. When he resurfaced a school of fish surrounded him. "There we go, best way to get back."

The island slowly made its way back to the main shoreline. The others enjoyed the ride all the way back. Kiva and Puppymon were sitting close to the edge staring at the water. Kiva was happy that Puppymon was safe and could now digivolve into the next level just like Renamon.

"You know what, I'm starting to see a pattern here. This time, only Puppymon could digivolve," Robert said.

"I agree with you Robert. Renamon was the only one who could do it before," Tora said.

Victoria who was back to sitting on the rock meditating over heard the conversation as she recalled when Renamon digivolved into Kyubimon while she was wrapped in a painful grip by Shellmon.

"_Renamon, please help me!" Victoria cried out in pain._

"_Victoria!" screamed Renamon struggling underneath the pressure of Shellmon's foot._

"_Digivolve!"_

_Victoria's digivice started to glow as Renamon digivolved into Kyubimon defeating Shellmon._

"You're right. It's all beginning to make sense. Renamon was able to digivolve when Victoria was in danger," James said.

"That has to be the answer. Our digimon digivolve when we're in trouble," Yukito said.

"That has to be it."

Everyone went quiet as sleep over took them once again. Puppymon and Kiva remained when they were falling asleep on the ground. Yumi crashed by the fire feeling the warmth on her skin. The others crashed where they already sat curling up with their digimon. Victoria and Renamon sat cross legged slipping into a deep trance.

Another day had come and gone, tomorrow was going to be another day.


	5. Two new digievolutions

**A/N: Here is chapter five, I'm taking two characters out of their normal characteristics for good reason I'm not going to reveal them you have to read to figure it out for yourselves. The reason I did that to the one is because being in the sun for too long will fry your brains and cause you to go loopy, and she doesn't quite realize what's going on. I also added reference to Finding Nemo, when Dori singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." I changed it to moving instead. This is just so no one gets confused or doesn't understand what is going on. I also don't own a lot of the dialogue, I just needed some help with the chapter. Thanks again to San child of the wolves, and ProtogirlT for your reviews **

Chapter 5

Two new digi-evolutions

Morning came along way too quickly for most of the kids, Yumi, Victoria and Kiva refused to greet the day like everyone else seemed to be able to do. A fog had arisen blocking out most of the sunlight, which eased a bit of their mood somewhat. The others were just eager to get a move on. Road signs were still posted between through the trees, it was starting to get a little more on the annoying side for all of them.

"Okay, have you ever noticed that this feels like a hike on a trail and someone's trying to mess with your mind of where your suppose to go?" asked Tora looking around.

"She has a point, at least we're not following the signs," James said with a laugh.

"James, make another joke and your dead," Yumi muttered passing him.

Before James could make a comment back a weird whirling noise could be heard above them. All seventeen heads looked up to see something fly through the opening of trees. The chaos triplets raised their eyes brows questioningly trying to comprehend what was going on. The others looked up in wonder.

"What the heck?" Tora said.

"You all heard that right?" James asked.

"It looked like it could have been a aircraft of some sort," Mark replied.

"No, I think it was more of a flying gear," Robert responded.

As everyone pondered over what was in the sky, Kisho went up ahead to explore more of the forest with Labramon. As he kept going, he tripped over a root causing him to trip. Thinking he was going to just fall on the ground, Kisho braced himself for the fall but realized that he was at the edge of the cliff. He let out a scream as held on to the cliff for dear life.

"That sounded like Kisho," Yukito said looking around for the sound of Kisho.

"Where is he anyway?" Mark asked.

"Over there, I see Labramon," Tora pointed out.

The group ran over to where Labramon was trying to get a hold of something. At a closer look they saw that it was Kisho. Kisho had his eyes closed the entire time too terrified to even look up.

"Kisho, just hold on just a little longer, we'll help you up little buddy," Mark said. Just as he went to pick him up James was already on his knees helping Kisho back on to the cliff.

"Kisho, you all right?" James asked putting him back down.

"Yeah, just a little shaken."

"Where are we heading now?" Tora asked looking around.

"I'm not sure, maybe we should just keep moving and see if we can find any more civilization," James said.

"Do you know how hard that is going to be? We've been here a day and we haven't come across any other humans, just random signs, and phone booths, what if we can't find anybody?" Mark asked. It was the same question everyone had on their minds.

"We just need to keep moving and keep our hopes up, if not, we'll never know what to ever expect," James replied with a shrug.

The small group of Digi-destined made their way through the forest in hopes of finding something other than random, irrelevant road signs. The chaos triplets kept to the back of the group refusing to interact, and on top of all that if they needed to slip away they could easily do it without being caught. Tora kept within the middle ignoring most of the comments the guys were making along the way.

"The next stop on our tour will be irrelevant road signs of the forest. I ask that you don't do any flash photography please," Mark said sounding like a tour guide. The triplets rolled their eyes, while Tora let out a sigh.

"They really know how to push ones buttons around here," Victoria said as Yumi and Kiva agreed.

"Here you'll see possible arrows showing us the way out of here," James commented.

"He's a dead man if he keeps this up."

The three girls pushed their way forward not in the mood to stay behind the guys and have to listen to their endless commenting, at least up front they could hopefully ignore the sounds. Just as the group came to the end of the forest, the triplets were the first to stop and gap at the sight before them.

"Is there a reason why you three are stopping?" asked Robert standing at Yumi's side. Up ahead were several tall telephone poles.

"You have got to be bloody joking me. First the phone booths, now this? Can this strange place get any more weirder?" Yumi groaned as the others made their way forward to see what the commotion was all about.

"Hey maybe we could follow them and see where they lead," suggest Mark walking ahead of the group again.

"What is with following strange things we randomly see? Please tell me this is not going to become a habit with you," Yumi said rubbing her temples.

"What else do you suggest? Just stand here all day and hope that something or someone comes to find us?" Mark retorted turning around to face her.

"Let's look at the facts shall we? We have wandered this place for the last day and a half, to suddenly come across telephone poles seems a little suspicious to me," Yumi remarked stubbornly.

"Does she always act this way?" whispered Bearmon.

"More than you can imagine," whispered James. "Look before we get into a heated argument, why don't we just see what's to come and if there's nothing than we'll double back."

"Great plan," Yumi muttered. _'That is if we can find our way back.'_

Strolling into the clearing, a big black gear flies through the now clearing fog revealing a blue sky. Everyone followed the gear soaring through the sky until it crashed into a grass-covered hilltop in the far off distance. When the gear disappeared, the group continued to make their trek through the hot desert. Robert stared up at the blue sky wiping sweat from his forehead. No one could be bothered to go at a quick pace, the heat alone was slowly starting to get to them all.

In the far back, the chaos triplets dragged their feet along the ground, each one could feel sweat build up on their back of their necks causing their shirts to stick to their bodies. Victoria was the only lucky one to be in a tank top with her fish net elbow length gloves, she wasn't as warm as Kiva and Yumi were. Although Yumi did have some relief from the fabric on her shirt. Neither one refused to complain, the more they complained, the more it just seemed to get hotter.

"Victoria, you should take some time off of your feet for a little while," Renamon stated seeing that her partner was dragging her feet to the point where she was going to collapse in exhaustion.

"No, I'm okay, I can push through this," Victoria said barely able to keep her head up. Her voice was strained by the lack of water.

"No your not, come on," Renamon said easily picking up Victoria off the ground and resting her on her back.

"You are very kind tall fox lady," Victoria replied in a strange voice that was not her own.

"Oh god, she's finally lost it," Tora said.

"No, she's just dehydrated, she tends to become more loopy than normal," Yumi responded digging through her bag in search for something to drink.

"It's official, the heat has finally fried our brains and we're all going to be end up like baked potatoes," Yukito said in a half crazed voice.

"Mark, I think we might need to find shade for Yukito before he totally loses it," Gaomon said.

No one else said anything after that. Yumi could already tell that Victoria was getting a sunburn, and it was going to be a bad one. No doubt in her mind that she was already getting heat stroke. Grabbing on to something cold Yumi produced two water bottles from her bag and handed one to Renamon and the other one to Victoria.

"Keep hydrated, I don't feel like dealing with a possibly sick friend here," Yumi said forcing Victoria to drink some of the water.

"Hey does anyone else notice that these telephone poles have no connecting wires, or is it just me?" Tora asked looking at the poles. With all the heat it made it seem that the poles were swaying before them.

"She's right. I wonder if these actually are telephone poles or if their just mirages," Robert replied now examining them.

"I think the heat has finally gotten to everyone," commented Puppymon who was in Kiva's arms. Kiva didn't seem to be totally bothered by the heat.

"I think your right. Kiva, you should take some water," Yumi offered her a bottle of water. Kiva took it graciously with her free arm and took a sip of it before offering some to Puppymon who merely tilted his head back allowing the cool water to go down his throat.

"I think we should start looking for water, guys. Otherwise, we could dehydrate in all this heat," replied Robert wiping his forehead again. James turned around to get a better look at Robert but instead he saw Yumi holding a bottle of water in her hand.

"You had water this entire time?" James said finally noticing Yumi taking a long swig from her water bottle.

"If you guys asked I would offered you some."

"So I take it you don't have any more."

"That's not what I'm saying. If you want some just ask."

"May I have please," Kisho asked now walking at her side. Yumi looked down at him seeing the same similarities once again of Danielle.

"Here you go. Share that with Labramon."

"Hey what about us?"

"How about asking the magic words and I'll consider it," Yumi shot back.

Yumi might keep to herself and look out for her close friends, but when it came to dealing with the heat and keeping hydrated she looked out for everyone and kept their best interest in mind. She wasn't that cruel, only when people were totally rude to her would she let them suffer.

"Too bad we weren't around shade, it would help so much right now," Kisho said.

"I think we'll be okay, thankfully we got some water into us at least," Mark responded.

"Heeeeelp! Somebody please find us!" Tora cried out landing on her knees with her face and arms reaching toward the sky.

"Oh yeah, she snapped," Yumi sighed passing Tora.

"I'm sure we can find something out here. Don't give up," James said as Lalamon helped her to her feet.

"Just keep moving, just keep moving, moving, moving," Tora repeated in a singsong voice.

"And now she's reverted to singing. Great!" Yumi groaned putting a lot of emphasize on great.

As the digi-destineds kept moving through the desert, everything stayed the same. It wasn't until Renamon stopped dead in her tracks, she raised her head in wonder as she sniffed the air around her.

"Renamon, I know its hot, you don't have sniff the air for that," Victoria said a little more sane.

"No, I smell something. Something familiar to me," Renamon informed.

Everyone looked around trying to see what Renamon was sensing. It wasn't until James and Yumi saw something far in the distance. Yumi took out her binoculars while James took out his mini-telescope. Both looked into the direction that Renamon now looked determinedly.

"James, Yumi, what do you two see?" asked Kisho curiously.

"It's not just a mirage. There's water and a village!" James cried out excitedly.

"That means that we can find people!" Yukito exclaimed.

"And shade, glorious shade," Tora and Lalamon replied.

"Maybe we can also get food," Kisho said.

The kids and their digimon picked up the pace and started to run through the desert to get to the village. Victoria was still on Renamon's back refusing to get down. Excitement seemed to fill all of them as they got closer and closer to the village. The village came into view, but it wasn't exactly what everyone was thinking. The village was tiny, there was little huts occupied by little yellow creatures. Victoria slipped off of Renamon's back staring at the creatures in shock. They were tons of Viximon's.

"I thought something seemed familiar to me," Renamon said looking around at the little Viximon surrounding the group.

"I thought this place would be bigger," James said wondering around observing the surrounding.

"Aw, they're all so cute," Tora said, with her hands brought together to the one side of her face.

"Do you know where we can fill up on water?" Renamon asked kneeling on the ground to get a better look at the Viximon who were sniffing the humans curiously.

"What do giant digimon drink?" asked one of the Viximon curiously sniffing Victoria's leg.

Victoria looked down looking at the Viximon, she was reminded of when she first met Renamon in this form. Her Viximon seemed to have a little bit more of an attitude toward her. These Viximon seemed to be more relaxed and happy.

"I'm no digimon."

"No, she's a human being," explained Renamon trying to keep her cool.

"This is just great. There is no way we can stay here, its far too small," Yukito groaned wandering around staring at the huts.

"Stop being such a Drama Queen Yukito and look on the bright side."

"Water, water!" cried out Kisho running through the tiny village toward a well.

"Water? Where?" wondered Robert looking up.

"Look everybody, a fresh water fountain!" cried Kisho pointing to the well in front of him.

"Oh, the water here is piped in from a spring at Mihirashi Mountain. It's the best water in the world," a Viximon, who was being held in Tora's arm, explained

"I heard that Mount Mihirashi water is the best in the entire galaxy," Penguinmon raved.

"Where is the Mount Mihirashi?" asked Kisho looking at Labramon.

"Up there!" all the Viximon said at once.

Looking up in the far distance where they had come from, Kisho and the others could slightly see a mountain.

"That's a live volcano is it not?" Kisho asked.

"Yes, the heat boils away all the germs," replied the same Viximon in Tora's arm.

On top of the mountain a fire creature stood there overlooking everything. It heated the mountain water before turning its attention back to the land below. In the village a rumbling sound could be heard coming from the well.

"If I'm not mistaken, the noise precedes an eruption correct?" Robert asked.

All of a sudden a column of fire erupted from the village well causing everyone to back away from the well. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were still wandering around the village getting familiar with what was around them. They could see a sunken boat down below the village, there must have been water once.

"What in the world just happened?" Mark asked.

"The water evaporated," Yumi called over her shoulder.

"That's okay, the lake is always full of water," replied a Viximon.

"I don't think so, its dried up," Victoria called.

The others ran over to where the chaos triplets stood staring at the empty gorge. No one could believe their eyes at the sight.

"How could this have happened?"

"Maybe someone pulled the plug or something?" suggested James.

Everyone except Yumi, Victoria and Kiva ran back to the village. Renamon was already in the village meditating as usual while Puppymon was lying down on the ground just watching with amusement of the humans need to run around like crazy. James found a bucket and put it into the well hopeful to find something at the bottom. It didn't take long before it fell straight down crashing to the bottom.

"Its completely dry," Mark said.

"I am not giving up no matter what," James said pulling up the rope to find the bottom was singed where the bucket once was. Raising an eyebrow another column of flame shot up into the opening. James jumped back startled hopping from foot to foot.

"And I thought humans couldn't get any stranger," Puppymon said when Victoria, Yumi and Kiva joined him on the ground.

"Oh trust me, this is just the beginning," Yumi sighed. "I wish we could take you back to the real world with us."

"If this is how all humans act, I don't think I want to," Puppymon replied resting his head on Kiva's lap.

"Does the fire digimon ever come down from the mountain?" asked Victoria to Renamon who joined the little group. There was something in the question that got Renamon's attention. Victoria kept her eyes on the mountain the entire time.

"As much as I remember, he never leaves that mountain. Everything that he touches burns. Victoria why are you asking?"

"Because I think I see something coming down the mountain, and it looks like a giant fireball."

Yumi took out her binoculars and looked at the mountain to see a tall fire like creature running down the mountain. She slowly put the binoculars down staring at the two girls, her eyes showed fear.

"Yumi, what's the matter?"

"He's on his way right now!"

"What did you say?" Mark asked looking at the group.

"The fire creature is on his way down the mountain!"

"His name is Meramon, this is very strange if he is coming down here. He never leaves the mountain."

"What are we going to do?" James asked.

"He's heading straight for the village!" Victoria shouted standing up her body shaking.

"We need a plan, he's already at the foot of the mountain and he's starting to enter the forest!" Renamon shouted.

"Everybody freeze! Stay very still," Tora commanded.

"What is that suppose to do? He's not a T-rex that sees movement," Yumi said frustrated.

"Don't move a muscle," Tora hissed. The entire village went motionless as Meramon rushed through the forest. Victoria and Yumi could feel their hearts racing. Kiva turned to look at them.

'_We need to run now!'_

"Unfreeze right now! We need to run now!" Puppymon shouted. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva pivoted on the spot and took off through the village toward the gorge where the ship wreck was. Soon everyone else was right on their heels.

"Hurry, come on!" shouted Yumi herding the Viximon into the wreck minutes later. Kiva and Victoria were already in the ship getting the Viximon together at the bow of the ship. James and Mark were running down the gorge along with more of the Viximon, Gaomon and Bearmon were still on the top of the gorge making sure that the Viximon kept moving. Labramon, Tentomon and Lalamon were running along with the Viximon making sure they were keeping together while their partners were already on the ship helping Kiva and Victoria.

"Renamon, where are you?" Victoria called noticing that her digimon was no where near her. Renamon was on top of the gorge along with Gaomon and Bearmon. Renamon was determined to make sure that all the little digimon got to safety.

Victoria looked up at the top of the gorge to see the three digimon standing there. With that Victoria got on top of the bow of the ship. Taking a deep breath Victoria jumped down from the high area. The wind whistled in her ears as she got closer to the bottom. Yumi could see her friend free fall from the ship. At first she thought she was trying to kill herself until she realized that Renamon was still on the cliff.

The ground came into view seconds later, Victoria landed on her feet before standing up and walking it off, it was as if she never felt the impact.

It didn't take long for James and Mark to realize that Gaomon and Bearmon where not with them either. Looking back both boys could see Victoria running toward the cliff. Getting the idea the boys followed her.

"Renamon!" Victoria screamed, terror filling her voice. Victoria could see Meramon nearing her.

"Bearmon, behind you!" shouted James matching Victoria's speed.

"Gaomon, dodge!" bellowed Mark.

Before the three digimon had time to look behind them, Meramon swiped the three with one hand causing the three to tumble down the edge of the cliff. Victoria's eyes widened as she ran at top speed to get to her digimon in time. Mark and James were not far behind.

"Ren! Ren! I'm coming! Please be okay!" Victoria cried out getting underneath Renamon holding her arms up to protect her digimon as best she could.

"Bearmon!" James shouted diving to the ground his arms stretched out ready to catch his digimon.

"Gaomon!" Mark shouted jumping into the air grabbing Gaomon before twisting to land on his back to protect his digimon from any damage.

"Are you all right?" the three ask at the same time.

"Just fine," the three all replied.

From a top of the cliff Meramon let out a loud roar while forming a fireball in his hand. Victoria's eyes widened as Renamon picked up Victoria to get her to safety. James and Mark rolled out of the way to get to a safer location.

"We're still in danger no matter where we go!" Renamon said to Victoria stepping in front of her protectively.

"We have to do something then. Renamon, you have to digivolve!" Victoria said.

"Tori, I don't have the strength right now."

Meramon let the fireball go aiming it toward Renamon and Victoria. James and Mark seemed to be nowhere near important.

"Tori, look out!" yelled Renamon now turning back around to push Victoria to the ground. Both narrowly missed the fire, but it didn't mean that Renamon wasn't fully hit. The two were on the ground motionless for some time. The others couldn't tell what was going on. Yumi's heart was racing with fear that her friend had suffered a major casualty.

"VICTORIA!!!" yelled Yumi terrified.

"Bearmon, Victoria and Renamon need your help," James said.

"Got it!"

"Gaomon, help Bearmon!" Mark commanded.

"Right!"

Bearmon and Gaomon stood up from their partners grasped, running toward the cliff where Meramon stood ready to attack once again. The two digimon ran up the cliff to face Meramon head to head.

"Hey hot stuff! Your in trouble now. No one and I mean no one hurts our friends and gets away with it!" Bearmon called. "Bear claw!"

"Speed bash!" shouted Gaomon.

Both digimon went in for the attack. Meramon is pushed back, he takes several more of the attacks, but they don't seem to affect him.

"Is that truly what you have to offer?" Meramon taunted.

Bearmon and Gaomon now stood side by side refusing to give in to the taunting. Meramon was no match for them, but they needed to work as a team.

"Gaomon, we have to attack as one," Bearmon instructed.

"Right!"

Back on the ground, Victoria began to stir. Renamon lay motionless on to of her, but her breathing seemed relatively normal.

"Renamon talk to me, please!"

Renamon didn't move, Victoria tried her hardest to shake her to get her to move but there was no response. Victoria could hear shouts coming from the cliff as Bearmon and Gaomon refused to give up the fight with Meramon.

"Better look out, here I come!" Meramon called as Gaomon and Bearmon were knocked off the cliff. Meramon jumped down from the cliff to where Victoria and Renamon were still on the ground still trying to heal from the last attack. Gaomon and Bearmon were once again caught by their partners. The two digimon weakly opened their eyes to see Meramon make his way toward them.

"Renamon? We need your help. Gaomon and Bearmon can't handle Meramon on their own," Victoria pleaded.

"I can't all him to win. Victoria and Renamon are counting on me. My other friends need my help," Bearmon said getting to his feet.

"This is not the end. I will not allow anyone to harm my friends," Gaomon said.

"RENAMON!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!" shouted Bearmon.

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!" shouted Gaomon.

Bearmon soon became a large blue grizzly bear with red paws and silver claws. On his forehead was a crescent moon. Gaomon soon turned into a large wolf, although being more based upon an Alaskan Husky. The claws that Gaomon possessed grew bigger, whilst the boxing gloves that protected the claws matured as well. He now remains on four legs. The ends of what appears to be a scarf are actually similar to appendages and can be used to grasp and ensnare his enemies.

The two now large digimon charged toward the quickly moving Meramon. Gaogamon head butts Meramon in the gut forcing him back up the cliff.

"We're safe now Renamon. Gaomon and Bearmon have digivolved to save us," Victoria sighed wrapping her arms around her digimon.

"Do you think, just because you two have digivolved into a higher level is going to stop me, you are sadly mistaken!" Meramon seethed.

"You will never, ever get close to them and hurt them," Grizzlymon vowed preparing to attack once again.

"Let's see what you got!"

"Spiral blow!" shouted Gaogamon shooting out a tornado from his mouth.

"Crescent beam!" shouted Grizzlymon, the crescent moon on his forehead began to glow before shooting out a powerful beam toward Meramon. Meramon's eyes widened at the sight as he tried to block the attacks. In seconds, the black gear that was stuck inside of him is sent flying out his back shattering into millions of pieces.

"It was a gear!" Robert announced from the ship.

"That little thing?"

"Yeah, it made him go crazy!"

"Victoria!" Yumi screamed running toward her friend. Victoria still wasn't moving from her spot. Victoria slid to a halt almost falling when she reached her friend. Victoria's eyes were open, at first Yumi didn't know what to think until she saw her friend blink a couple of times.

"Don't scare me like that," Yumi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go that far. Renamon on the other hand I'm worried about," Victoria motioned toward her digimon who still seemed out cold.

"I thought I told you not to worry about me?" Renamon said.

"Ahh!" both girls screamed. Renamon got to her knees and looked at the two girls weirdly.

"That will serve you right. But I am glad that you two are all right," Renamon said helping the girl to her feet.

Grizzlymon and Gaogamon soon turned back to their regular forms falling into their partners arms. James and Mark looked at their digimon excitedly after their victory over Meramon.

"You guys were awesome!"

"As long as you two are all right, then everything is great."

The sun soon started to set behind the cliff of the Viximon village where Meramon sat with his neighbours. Renamon, Victoria, Yumi, Kiva and Puppymon sat just outside the group sitting cross legged, except for Puppymon who lay in front of Kiva protectively.

"Meramon, how come you attacked our village?" one of the Viximon asked.

"I couldn't stop myself, I'm sorry."

"That must have been awful for you. If you couldn't control yourself, who was controlling you?" asked the same Viximon.

"The last thing I remember is being hit by that gear," replied Meramon.

"Well, we're just happy that you are not out to destroy our village any more. I just hope that something like this doesn't happen again. You're needed to protect Mount Mihirashi."

It wasn't long until Meramon left the little village and made his way back to the mountains. The Viximon said their goodbyes while the others waved. Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon returned to the group, in their hands were full water bottles ready for their next adventure. But at the time being it was time to relax and get some food into them.


	6. Digivice upgrade

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, major writers block. Yes I unfortunately use stuff from the show, not all of it, but enough, just to let everyone know. I got the idea to put colour coded dots on to the digivices after jumping ahead to later chapters when everyone splits up. I thought I do something different. I thank San child of the wolves and ProtogirlT for reviewing my chapters. I also realize that I really change Yukito's moods a lot, he's a complexed boy lol. Chapter six will hopefully be up soon.**

Chapter 6

Digivice upgrade

The land was getting long and tiring. The heat was slowly starting to get to everyone. Poor Penguinmon was near the point of collapsing from heat exhaustion. Everyone else dragged their feet across the deserted plain. Yumi dug through her bag hoping to find a full water bottle. It had been weeks since they were around any water and Yumi was coming up dry.

"Great, no water. We need to take a break," Yumi groaned zipping her bag back up as she limped along the way now.

"We need to keep going though," James said who was just ahead of her.

"Look, we're all getting exhausted here, we haven't had a break in several hours," Yumi shot back.

It didn't take long before Kisho dropped to his knees going into a crawl before officially collapsing on the ground. Labramon tried his hardest to get underneath Kisho's head to pick him up but to no avail. Labramon gave up collapsing on Kisho's back instead and rested. Penguinmon was dragging himself further and further but stopped a few inches a head of the two.

"We can't give up," James said.

"James, get it through your head, they're tired, and we're all tired. The digimon need the rest as well. You can't ask them to keep pushing themselves."

"Fine, we'll rest…"

"Half an hour break everyone," Yumi called out cutting off James.

Victoria, Renamon, Kiva and Puppymon were sitting underneath a tree resting their weary bodies. Yumi soon joined them, fed up with dealing with James.

Robert sat feet away from them taking out his laptop hoping it'll work in his favour. Tentomon sat next to him staring at the blank screen.

"Even in the digiworld it doesn't want to work," Robert sighed.

"Hey, maybe I can help," James answered appearing out of nowhere. He picked the laptop out of Robert's hands and started hitting the side of it hoping something would happen.

"What do you think you're doing? Give it back!" Robert demanded getting up. He loomed over James, but even with his height and age, James refused to give in.

"James, stop being such an imbecile. Give Robert back the laptop and quit being an idiot," Yumi replied not bothering to stand up or even look their way. The fighting between the two took her out of her thoughts forcing to intervene.

"Thought she never got into anyone's business?" Renamon asked sitting in her usual meditative position, her eyes closed.

"She doesn't. Idiotic people piss her off to the point where she has to step in," Victoria replied in the same cross legged meditative position, her eyes also closed.

"I was just trying to help," James confessed.

"By breaking it?" Yumi asked now staring at him, her eyes narrowed in frustration.

James gave back the laptop in a huff and walked away, Bearmon trailed after him. Robert sat back down in a cross legged position the laptop in front of him. He tried again to get the laptop to work again.

"I hope he didn't damage anything," Robert quietly said to himself. It didn't take long for the screen to pop on. "Excellent, we have lift off."

"What a weird saying," Tentomon said hovering over him.

Kisho and Labramon were sitting on the other side of the tree were the chaos triplets sat with their digimon. Mark and Gaomon of course weren't far away, Mark and Yukito stood in the shade talking about their next plan of action. Penguinmon was at Yukito's feet lying on his stomach staring off into space with Gaomon sitting in front of Penguinmon just staring at him hoping he was fine. Tora and Lalamon were resting in the sunlight feeling the warmth on their skins simply enjoying their time off their feet. Well more for Tora anyway.

Victoria and Renamon continued their meditation, while Kiva and Puppymon were in a daydream stance, a single headphone was in her ear as she listened to her music. Yumi on the other hand stared at her digivice curiously. There were so many secrets that it held and she wanted to know them. If she could actually take it apart to examine it that way she would. Getting an idea now, she looked over at Robert still typing away at his keyboard. Getting to her feet Yumi made her way over to Robert and Tentomon.

Robert was so engrossed by his laptop he didn't even know Yumi crouch next to him.

"Robert?" Yumi asked in a soft voice.

"Ye…agh!" Robert cried out backing away. He was not expecting one of the chaos triplets to be sitting to him. "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything relax. Look I was wondering if I could ask you something. I know you are still trying to figure out about the digivices yourself, but I was wondering if you could put tracking systems on them. Colour coded them I mean," Yumi said, her voice almost calm.

"That actually sounds like a great plan. Let me see your digivice for a moment."

Yumi handed him her digivice and watched him set to work. He place her digivice on top of the keyboard with the screen facing him. His fingers were almost dancing over the keys. Yumi couldn't believe how fast he was going.

Their half an hour break went by way too quickly, Robert was still working on the digivice for Yumi. It wasn't long till James' voice interrupted Robert's thoughts.

"Guys, come check this out!"

Yukito, Mark and Tora along with their digimon ran toward where James and Bearmon stood at the cliff over looking what appeared to be a power plant.

"This place is just full of mystery," Tora said aloud.

"Come on, let's go check it out," Mark commented.

"Mark, wait up!" called Kisho getting to his feet.

"Where are they in a hurry too?" Puppymon asked lifting his head off Kiva's lap.

"Don't know, don't care," Victoria replied uncaringly now sitting with her legs out stretched in front of her.

"I think we should go see what our friends have discovered," Tentomon said hovering in the air above Robert and Yumi.

"Where did they go anyway?" Robert asked.

"Somewhere over there," Tentomon pointed toward the spot where Mark, James, Yukito and Tora stood minutes before.

"Come on, we almost got something," Yumi replied refusing Robert to give up.

"I would continue the search but my laptop is close to running out of energy," Robert admitted pointing to the battery sign.

"Perfect," Yumi sighed disappointedly. "Kiva, Victoria, we're taking a walk."

"You're joking right?" Victoria groaned. Renamon was already on her feet helping her up.

"I don't think she's kidding," Puppymon sighed standing up as well.

The seven made their way toward the power plant where the others stood waiting for them.

"It took you long enough," James said.

"We don't follow," Victoria answered in a monotone voice.

"Well come on, let's see if there's anyone here," James said urging everyone forward.

'_He is going to be the death of us,'_ Kiva mouthed to Puppymon.

"I agree with you," Puppymon whispered snickering.

"Hey, what did she say?" James asked turning around. It wasn't out of anger, it was more out of curiosity.

'_Nothing you have to worry your little head about,'_ Kiva mouthed again to Puppymon. Victoria and Yumi snickered seeing what their friend was saying. Both were on either side of their friend getting a good view of what she was lip-syncing.

"Okay, there is seriously something up with her," James muttered to the others.

"Understandable, she is part of the chaos group," Tora shrugged.

"Maybe she's deaf," Lalamon suggested.

"Probably."

Kiva narrowed her eyes in hatred at hearing their comments about her. She let it go in the past, giving people the cold shoulder and ignoring them. Good portion of the time she would start fights when the comments really got to her. It wasn't her fault she wasn't really a good social person.

Puppymon of course was getting the hint that his partner was getting upset. Looking up at her Puppymon could easily read her face like an open book. Although it was expressionless and cold to everyone else.

"Kiva you must let their words go in one ear and out the other," whispered Puppymon.

'_It's more than that Puppymon. People are use to me giving them the silent treatment and the cold shoulder when I'm ticked off. To have people accuse me off being deaf is the worse thing for me to hear,'_ Kiva thought refusing to have Yumi and Victoria know what was going on.

"Want me to talk to them for you?" Puppymon asked.

'_It doesn't matter,'_ Kiva shrugged, she was holding back so much anger she was close to lashing out and attack one of the kids.

Up ahead with Robert being in his own little world, headed off into one direction followed by Yumi and Yukito along with Tentomon and Penguinmon. Mark, Gaomon, Kisho, Labramon, Tora, Lalamon, James and Bearmon turned down another direction leaving Victoria, Renamon, Kiva and Puppymon on their own.

Victoria of course was sensing that there was much bothering Kiva and it was obviously being around the others. She could hear Puppymon's whispered voice talking with her. She knew that the two wanted to have their privacy. Victoria would never listen into the conversation unless she was invited in.

"Do you know where we are heading?" Renamon asked looking around the empty corridor.

"Not even in the slightest. Wait a minutes, how did we lose Yumi?" Victoria asked.

Kiva stopped walking and looked back at Victoria who was scanning the area for any sign. Kiva wondered why it had turned so quiet all of a sudden.

"This is so much better," Kiva and Puppymon said. Puppymon went back into a trance like state speaking for Kiva.

"Should we even be worried about Yumi?" Renamon asked.

"She's fine," Victoria replied.

Down another corridor, Robert continued his stroll in awe of the place. He got into a determination of locating something, he didn't know what he was looking for, just that he needed to find it.

Yukito followed behind with Yumi, who was in her own little world not even caring what was going on. All she cared about was getting her digivice set up and return back to her friends. Yukito walked with his arms crossed in front of him staring at the walls and gears. His long bangs covered his left eye. He was another who truly saw no need to be in this place.

"Anyone else know that we have split up from the others?" Penguinmon asked.

"So?" Yumi replied shrugging.

"Did you also see that we aren't with Victoria and Kiva," Penguinmon stated.

"Ah frocker. Hey, where are we anyway?" Yumi asked looking around.

"By some strange gears and machines," Yukito replied in a I-don't-care voice.

"Good observations there," Yumi replied sarcastically looking around. "Great, how did we lose Robert?"

"He found a door," Yukito answered in a smartass way.

Yumi looked over to the one side to see Robert opening a door revealing a room with a large battery.

"That's a big battery," Robert gasped in awe.

"Oh gods we've lost him," Yumi groaned.

Robert entered the room making his way to the battery. Yukito rolled his eyes as he followed after him arms still crossed in front. Yumi looked around the outside for a minute to get a better idea of where they were.

James, Tora, Mark and Kisho aimlessly wandered around in search for something, anything. The four realized, after Labramon and Gaomon mentioned that the others were no longer with them. There didn't seem to be any sign of any other human life here.

"This place is very strange," Kisho said staring around the place to see things putting something together.

"I can't believe we haven't seen any human life around here. You'd think there would be," James replied.

"What are these things making anyway?" Tora asked.

"I'm not even sure."

Tora looked around at her surroundings, an idea forming inside her head as boredom took over.

"Marco!"

"What are you doing?" Mark asked.

"You see, or hear. Marco!"

Down the other corridor Kiva, Puppymon, Victoria and Renamon continued their way going no where in particular. Halls split off into other rooms. Of course curiosity got the better of the two. Making their way toward the one room something caused Puppymon to perk up his ears.

"What's the matter?" Victoria asked now noticing Renamon looking around something seemed to have crossed her mind.

"I thought I heard someone call out Marco. Whatever that is," Puppymon replied.

"Marco!"

"Polo?" Victoria called questioningly. Her voice wasn't really loud but was above a whisper.

"Marco!" came the voice again.

"Polo!"

There wasn't any more calls outs that they could hear. Kiva rolled her eyes as she headed toward the door. Something seemed to be inside and Kiva and Victoria were determined to see what it was. Puppymon was the first to enter the room, he wasn't going to allow his partner to go anywhere near the room without him inspecting it first.

"It's all clear, but there seems to be something in here," Puppymon called as the three girls made their way toward the room. On the ground seemed to be half a body.

Kiva and Victoria looked down at the body to see that it was an android. It seemed as if it had been wedged under gears and tried to get itself out.

"Should we help it?" Victoria asked.

Kiva shrugged her shoulders as she continued to stare at the android. Puppymon sniffed it, making sure that nothing seemed weird about it.

"What would be the harm?" Renamon asked.

Kiva grabbed the androids' left arm while Victoria grabbed the right arm, both began to pull the body as hard as they could. Renamon helped Victoria on her side while Puppymon only watched, in this form he wasn't as strong as he would like. The body soon began to become loose as the three continue their pulling.

Inside the room with the battery, Robert wandered around the battery determined to find a way inside, he was sure there was a doorway. Yumi and Yukito stood back refusing to think that there was anything there. Penguinmon and Tentomon were sitting on the ground tired, well more like frustrated that they couldn't keep moving.

"There has to be someway to get inside. Now where could it be?" Robert mumbled running his hands over the cylinder wall locating an opening.

"Give it up Robert, there isn't anything in here. Can we seriously keep moving?" Yumi groaned starting to pace.

"Ha, found something."

"Genius boy finally found something," Yukito retorted.

Robert entered the new area to see weird lettering. Tentomon soon followed him. Penguinmon, Yukito and Yumi remained outside allowing Robert his space.

Back in the room with the Android, Kiva, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon continued to struggle with the body. Kiva didn't notice her hands begin to slip until she stumbled back into a clutch causing her to fall to the ground. The gears started up making the pulling easier to do, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon were finally able to release it from its prison.

"Oh thank gods we got him out. Now what?" Victoria asked looking down upon the still unconscious android.

"No idea," replied Renamon.

Without warning the lights turned off plunging the building into darkness. Kiva got to her feet carefully making her way toward her friends. She didn't know exactly where the others were, but something came in contact with her foot.

'_Ow, ow, ow. What did I hit?'_ Kiva asked almost screaming in her head.

"Kiva where are you?" Puppymon asked sniffing the air hoping to find his partner.

It wasn't long until the android woke up and its eyes popped open. It looked at Victoria who was staring at its face. It reached out its hand and grabbed her leg.

"Holy shit, what the hell?" screamed Victoria.

"I shall punish intruders," Andromon declared refusing to let go of Victoria who was wiggling in his grasp.

"Guys, help me!" Victoria yelled.

"Andromon is one of the most powerful digimon of all. His body is a tireless machine capable of almost everything," Renamon explained as she crouched into a fighting position.

"Renamon, let's show him what we've got," Puppymon said preparing to pounce.

"Right behind you. Diamond storm!"

"Puppy bite!"

"Agh!" cried out Andromon who threw Victoria toward the wall, but crashed into Kiva knocking her over too. Victoria looked at her apologetic.

"Victoria, what's the plan now?" Renamon asked preparing to attack again, Victoria got to her feet helping Kiva as well.

"Renamon, blast the roof!" Victoria commanded looking up at the beams. Renamon noticed this too and smirked.

"Power paw!" Renamon shouted attacking the iron bars from the ceiling causing them to fall down trapping Andromon.

"While he's down, I suggest we run!" Puppymon said in the same trance-like voice he used while talking for Kiva.

"Let's move it then."

Inside the battery Robert and Tentomon stared outside trying to figure out what happened. Yumi and Yukito glared at Robert and the wall where he recently wiped off something on wall.

"Nicely done brainiac," both scoffed at the same time.

"What did I do?" questioned Robert turning back to face the wall. He noticed a small opening he accidentally wiped off. Digging into his bag he took out a black marker and added the line back on causing the lights to return back on.

"Okay, Robert isn't allowed near the walls anymore," Yumi said examining the strange markings. There was no pattern, no typical sense in them.

"Can this get any more weirder?" Yukito asked leaning on the wall.

"Be careful Yukito, don't rub against anything we don't know exactly what these markings are," cautioned Robert as he continued to examining the markings. Yukito rolled his eyes as he sat on the ground.

Kiva, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon ran down the corridors fear in their hearts at every turn. With the lights back on it made it difficult for them to hide.

"Come on down here, we need to hide!" Victoria shouted grabbing Kiva wrist pulling her toward the next hall, something up ahead looked like it could be used as a hiding spot. The two slide into the hiding spot while Renamon and Puppymon joined them. Victoria stood there breathing deeply, she kept her back against the wall, Kiva stood next to her, her breathing sounded constricted. Puppymon kept low to the floor at his partners feet while Renamon crouched in a meditative state close to everyone.

There was a sound of footsteps coming from the corridor leading toward them, a noise soon followed soon afterward. Both the girls breath caught in their throats. Kiva moved her hands in a quick movement. Victoria could see that she was doing sign language. _What was the noise?_

"Pray its not Andromon," Victoria whispered pressing her body ever closer and tighter to the wall.

"We need to keep moving," Renamon whispered.

"We're safe here, I know we're safe here," Victoria breathed hearing the footsteps coming closer still.

"It'll probably be a good plan to run, he'll catch us either way we look at it," Puppymon whispered.

"Intruders sited and Andromon doesn't like intruders. Lightning Blade!" Andromon shouted when he came to their location.

"Shit! Run!" screamed Victoria grabbing Kiva's wrist once again and pulled her away from harm. Renamon picked up Puppymon and disappeared from sight, reappearing seconds later next to Victoria and Kiva. Renamon ran at top speed refusing to release Puppymon.

Back in the room, Yumi paced back and forth getting really frustrated and annoyed. Yukito was back against the wall arms crossed over his chest while Robert continued to type on his keyboard.

"Robert, please tell me you're actually working on my digivice like I asked rather than playing solitaire," Yumi snapped.

"I'm trying to decode these writings, it seems that your request will have to wait."

"Why you little…" Yumi fumed staring at him, she started to advance upon him but Yukito grabbed her arms holding her back.

Kiva, Victoria, Renamon and Puppymon continued to run down the corridors, Victoria found it hard to hold back the scream she wanted to let out so bad. Andromon was getting closer their lives were going to be cut short.

"There has to be a way out, how can this building not have any more escape routes?" Victoria panted picking up the speed as she rounded the corner still holding on to Kiva's wrist. The little group found themselves on a cat walk with no other escape.

"Lightning Blade!"

"Holy frocker!" yelled Victoria as she let go of Kiva's wrist and jumped over the railing. Kiva did the same on the other side. Renamon and Puppymon jumped on either side and held on to the railing for dear life.

"Here me intruders, Andromon will exact his vengeance," Andromon declared.

"Come off it. We never did anything to you except for jump starting you, kind of wish we didn't," Victoria groaned.

Yumi seemed to have calmed down just a bit, but Yukito was still around her making sure she didn't decide to jump Robert and attack him. Her breathing was irregular and her eyes glaring at Robert electricity jumping out at him. Yukito knew to keep his distance fearing that Yumi could easily turn on him and attack out of nowhere.

"Robert, I'm pretty sure you should do as Yumi asks, she doesn't look too pleased," Tentomon said as Robert continued to type on his keyboard, Yumi's digivice still on top of the laptop glowing.

"She'll get over it I'm sure of it," Robert replied not even realizing what was going on.

"I am going to bloody murder him," Yumi fumed slamming her foot down on the ground as she still sat on the same spot. Her right leg that she slammed on the ground was in a 90° angle while her left leg was in another 90° angle on the ground.

"Threatening people is not the way to deal with this," Yukito said trying to keep her calm.

Yumi let out a low deep throat growl causing Yukito to back away even more. Fury ran through her veins as she continued to glare daggers at Robert. Tentomon could also sense the anger rising more from Yumi, fear filling his entire body. It seemed that Robert still had no clue on what exactly was going on.

"Robert, really, you need to stop focusing on the problems on the walls and focus upon the problems at hand. I think Yumi is close to the point of destruction," Tentomon said fearfully. Robert looked up finally to see Yumi staring right at him, electricity could be seen wrapping around her entire body.

"What's wrong with you?" Robert asked as if he hadn't realized what was going on the entire time.

"Listen here you little…you agreed to add something to my digivice and I expect things to get done is that quite clear?" Yumi replied in an unusually calm voice that sent shivers down Penguinmon, Tentomon and Yukito's backs. There were many reasons why people never crossed Yumi's path or pissed her off, most people never saw daylight ever again normally. Robert looked up at her wide-eyed, of course he was scared shitless.

But as he went to continue his typing, something on his screen began to flip around and go all funky. Suddenly his digivice started to act up, Robert looked at it curiously trying to decipher what was going on.

"Victoria, what's the plan?" asked Renamon.

"We need to somehow short circuit him. But how?" Victoria wondered looking around her surroundings. Something caught the corner of her eye minutes later, giving her an idea. Pushing herself up to put her feet on the platform she pushed off aiming for another platform with three levers upon them. Victoria caused a crane to come to life using the levers, which picked Andromon off his feet.

"Guys, now! We have clear sailing!" Victoria called jumping up grabbing on to Renamon's paw that was outstretched waiting for her.

Kiva and Puppymon were already back on the cat walk waiting for Victoria to join the group. With the path clear, the four ran for their lives back the way they came hoping to get away from Andromon permanently.

Down another area now, Tora, Kisho, James and Mark all stood around wondering where they were now.

"How come we're still here?" Tora asked rolling her eyes.

"We're still trying to figure out what gets built in this factory. Unfortunately we've come up empty handed each time seeing that this place is not normal," Mark explained.

"You think?" James asked in a smartass way.

"Too bad this place couldn't be designed with a door."

"There's no door it's based on perpetual motion nothing ever stops or leaves this place," Mark said matter-of-factly.

"Yukito, Yumi, their over here!" called Robert. Tora, James, Kisho and Mark looked up to see Robert make his way toward him followed by Yukito and one very pissed off Yumi. The digimon kept their distance from her still scared that she might snap.

"What is her deal?"

"If you wish to keep your lives, I wouldn't ask," cautioned Yukito stepping far away from Yumi as she started to eye him.

"So where have guys been?" Mark asked.

"I discovered something about this place. It seems that the program operating this very factory is what is producing the generating power to keep it going. To say the lease, its alive, everything here is alive."

"Heads up everyone!" cried out Victoria her voice strained from all the running.

"Oh thank gods you've returned," Yumi breathed a sigh of relief. Turning around she could see her two friends running toward the group horror written on their faces. "Vikki, what's the matter?"

"We need to get the hell out of here now!" commanded Victoria making her way toward Yumi.

"Victoria, calm down and tell us what's going on," Mark said.

Andromon soon appeared out of nowhere startling everyone. Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and their digimon made their way toward the others. They needed to come up with a plan and fast.

"Bring missiles to position and fire!" Andromon said monotonously.

"Kisho, look out!" shouted Mark as everyone except Kisho dived out of the way. Yumi picked up the speed hoping to out run the missile to protect Kisho.

"Yumi!" screamed Victoria terrified.

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!" Renamon called digivolving to her champion form. "Fox tail inferno!"

The fire from her tail flew toward the one missile heading toward Kisho destroying just as Yumi dived knocking Kisho to the ground. Yumi covered Kisho's head protecting him from the remnants.

"You all right?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."

The other missile headed over toward Yukito, Robert and their digimon. Robert braces himself for the impact while Yukito stood there in complete shock. Fear over took him in a heart beat. Penguinmon looked at his partner in horror that there was nothing he could do. Just as the missiles came closer, Yukito's digivice started to glow causing Penguinmon to change form.

"Another digi-evolutions, out of this world," breathed Robert.

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon," Dolphmon called out. "Dolphin kick!"

"Wait to go buddy," Yukito called out as the missile was destroyed.

"Dolphmon, we need to work together, we can finish this guy off," Kyubimon said to Dolphmon. Dolphmon nodded its head ready for attack.

"You dare challenge me?" Andromon asked in disbelief.

"You expecting someone else?" Kyubimon asked as she leapt into the air performing her dragon wheel attack.

As she neared his Andromon simply knocked her out of the way as if she were a simple bug. Dolphmon prepared himself for attack.

"Divine Rain!" A waterball came shooting out of its mouth aiming toward Andromon. The attack hit him dead on, but some how or another Andromon was still on his feet.

"There is no way they can beat them on their own, what do we do?" Tentomon asked.

"I'm not sure," Robert replied.

"Wait a minute try to re-entering that program that activated your digivice," Tentomon said.

"I doubt that's going to do anything Tentomon."

"Robert trust me. I think it might be the key to my next form."

Robert looked at Tentomon for a moment considering the plan than started typing something. It didn't take too long before Tentomon began to change.

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Oh yay, now there's another, whoopee freaking do," fumed Yumi.

Kabuterimon now hovered next to Dolphmon who was ready for another round with Andromon.

"Kabuterimon, we should combine our attacks together, I'm sure we can both take him on at the exact same time," Dolphmon said.

"Good idea. Electro shocker!"

"Pulse Blast!"

Both their attacks were sent straight for Andromon, there was no way that he could deflect both attacks at once. Both hit him causing a gear to leave his body and be destroyed into millions of little pieces.

"Thank god that is finally over," Yukito sighed with relief looking over at Robert who was still in shock.

"I apologize for the way I acted, I am normally a none violent digimon. But to repay my dues, I can show you the best way to escape this place. Follow the underground water way, the labyrinth begins just beyond this point."

"Thanks for the help," James said.

Down through the pipelines, everyone made their way through the sewers. Kiva, Victoria, and Yumi were walking side by side. Something about Yumi still bothered the two girls, they knew that she could become angry, but never this angry, something must have really aggravated her pretty bad while being stuck with Yukito and Robert.

"Hey Yumi," Robert said now walking beside her.

"What?" she asked stubbornly going back to her usual grumpy self.

"Here's your digivice back, its all set up and ready to go," Robert replied holding out her digivice. Yumi took it from his hands and looked at it. It was still the same, nothing seemed to have changed.

"Our dots are colour coded just the way you asked. Victoria's is midnight blue, Kiva's is black, Tora is pink, James is green, Mark is dark grey, Kisho is yellow, mine is brown, and Yukito is orange. Sorry I never gave it back to you before we left, there was something I needed to finish. And back in the room, I was working on this, I just didn't want to say anything. Oh, our digimon are amber and I put for your digimon peach so you can tell the difference between your digimon and someone else's."

"Thank you," Yumi replied in a soft voice.

Something started to beep on her digivice causing her to jump, did she seriously locate her digimon already? Locating at it again, multicoloured dots flashed on the screen indicated everyone around her. Soon, everyone's digivices started to go off indicating that they received the transfer from Yumi's digivice to their own.


	7. Secrets

**A/N: Wow, that was a long wait, I apologize, massive writers block and I kept getting distracted. Anyway, here is chapter seven all completed, sorry for the ending that's all that was coming to mind lol. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves for once again commenting on my story. I hope this is just as great. Oh yeah, and no Tora does not get a crush from one of the Numemon. Chapter 8 should be up soon, hopefully. Fingers crossed on that.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing we all know this. If I did Wizardmon would not be dead. I use a lot of dialogue from the show, so of course I don't own any of that.**

Chapter 7

Secrets

With another two digimon able to digivolve, the pressure to have Labramon and Lalamon digivolve seemed to be crucial, Tora and Kisho didn't want to be left behind. Yumi, who was somewhat in the middle of the group walked beside Victoria and Renamon, still silently fumed at the thought that she was left out of all of the fun. Although it didn't matter to her, she wasn't one to follow trends, still she found it annoying that everyone in the group had a digimon of their own.

Kiva and Puppymon walked ahead of Yumi doing their silent talking. It was now getting to the point in the group that something strange was going on between the two. It was understandable that she refused to talk to the others in the group, but they noticed that even within their small group she never said two words, always doing quick hand signals. Yumi and Victoria seemed to have no problem whatsoever with it.

Far ahead of the rest of the group were James, Bearmon, Tora and Lalamon concentrating only on their destinations. Walking on either side of Kiva were Yukito and Penguinmon on her left side and Robert and Tentomon on her right. She apparently didn't seem to notice them. Or if she did, she hid it well enough that she didn't care.

In the back behind Yumi and Victoria were Mark, Gaomon, Kisho and Labramon. No one really said too much as they continued their way down the sewer.

But even with all the quietness, there still could be heard the faint sounds of whispers from Tora and James up front.

"I still say she's deaf. I mean she gives those sign language signals when talking to Puppymon, Yumi, Victoria and Renamon," Tora said.

"That's a possibility. Even when she's actually 'talking' Puppymon usually talks for her, always going into that trance mode," James replied.

"What is there to hide? I mean seriously if your deaf just tell us."

"Maybe there's something more to it than that."

"Why don't you mind your own bloody business? It is none of your concern what's wrong with her!" seethed Yumi pushing past James and Tora. Kiva already pushed ahead of the two, rage building inside her. Puppymon stayed quiet knowing that Kiva needed her space, she was close to attacking anyone around her and he wasn't afraid of charging either.

"I find it so rude the way people have to meddle with someone's lives. If someone has a secret, don't try to figure it out yourself, just leave it alone," Yumi fumed to Victoria.

As the group ventured further down the sewer, a noise sounded down the other end. Kisho was the first to notice this as he stopped dead in his tracks. Mark noticed this also stopping causing the others, except for Yumi, Kiva and Victoria to stop.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

"Something's down there," Kisho replied in a shaky voice.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Tora asked.

"Numemon," breathed Gaomon.

"What are they?" Yukito asked.

"They are really disgusting Digimon who live down here in the sewers, their not known to go near sunlight" replied Tentomon.

"So…um…are they strong or weak?" James asked attempting to back away slowly.

"Their weak, but their smell on the other hand is strong," Bearmon answered.

"I strongly suggest that we leave this place now before we have to deal with them," Robert suggested backing away.

"Right behind you dude," Mark replied.

The six digidestined and six digimon slowly began to take off down the sewer toward hopefully where Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon were walking. As the kids made their way down the sewer, the Numemon began to pick up speed. The twelve let out a loud scream as they picked up the speed, their footsteps echoing down the sewer.

Further up ahead, Yumi, Victoria, Renamon, Puppymon and Kiva found their way out of the sewers, fresh air hitting their faces and filling their lungs as the three girls were already sitting on the hill out looking their surroundings. Behind them the three could hear the screams from the others.

"I'm not going to ask," Yumi said shaking her head.

Seconds later the other digidestineds emerged from the cave. All of them looked out of breathed and terrified. Yumi looked behind her shoulder narrowing her eyes in irritation.

"Didn't you hear us screaming?" James asked.

"No, you were screaming?" Victoria replied sarcastically.

Tora let of a sigh of relief of being free of the sewers as she sat next to Kiva, Victoria and Yumi at the edge of the hill. The guys stood on the other side of Yumi over looking their surroundings.

"Wonder what this place is going to be like?" wondered Kisho.

"Who knows little man, but I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough," answered Mark.

"Hey, Kiva, can I ask you a question?" Tora asked looking over at Kiva after tapping her shoulder.

Kiva turned her head to look Tora in the eye, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Her lavender bangs covering her left eye only revealing her right side. She was still pissed off royally at her and James for their comments. Kiva didn't give any sign she was eager to allow her to talk to her.

"I take that as a yes. I was wondering why you don't talk to anyone?" Tora asked.

Kiva just glared at her, Victoria and Yumi shot a look at Tora as Puppymon stood up ready for confrontation.

"Why don't you go away Tora and leave her alone?" Yumi shot back.

"I wasn't talking to you Yumi. Kiva come on, what's the deal?"

Yumi got to her feet to fight off Tora, but Kiva held out a hand stopping her from stepping a foot forward. Yumi looked down questioningly as she watched Kiva give Puppymon a quick hand signal.

"Why is it any of your concern if she chooses to talk to anyone or not?"

"Well, it's curiosity you could say," Tora replied shrugging.

"Well, maybe she doesn't want to discuss it," Puppymon replied crossing its arms.

"Answer me this then, why does she have you speak for her?"

"So she doesn't have to answer any of your ridiculous questions. Look here, we all have our places and groups in the digiworld. Apparently you are not apart of our group. Why don't you just go away and hang with the others, they might talk to you."

"You know what, I was trying to be friendly and a little civil. I don't know why you are being such jerks about it," Tora replied irritably.

"No, you are getting into someone's business, which is highly rude for one such as yourself to barge into another's life," Puppymon responded in a trance like voice. Yumi and Victoria knew that Kiva decided to join in the conversation the only way she knew how.

"Fine, you can hang with your stuck up, lifeless friends for all I care," Tora shouted standing up.

It came all too quickly, one where if you blinked you missed it. Kiva leaped from her spot on the ground aiming toward Tora. Both girls fell back into the ground hard. Tora struggled underneath Kiva's weight as she punched every part of her face. Tora grabbed hold of Kiva's shoulders forcing her off. Kiva stumbled back as Tora got to her knees ready for another attack.

As the two girls continued to fight, the guys watched in horror of the scene. Yukito could careless about the fight, it wasn't any of his business to get in between two girls. As for the others, they looked between each other and Yumi and Victoria who were just sitting there not even bothered. Renamon seemed to have disappeared from the scene.

"Are either of you going to stop this?" James asked.

"No, not really," Yumi simply replied.

"So your not even worried about their well-being?"

"Kiva can hold her own, if Tora can't then she should have backed off in the first place. Mark, Robert that's a really bad idea," Victoria called seeing the two guys trying to get behind each girl.

"Why, what could be…" Mark asked before a fist made contact with his nose.

"You never, ever get in between a girl fight. Unless you're willing to fight yourself," Victoria replied watching Mark walk back holding his nose.

"So what do we do?" James asked.

"Nothing," Yumi replied.

"Nothing?" echoed Robert.

"Precisely. Kiva will basically take care of her own fights."

"Your use to this aren't you?"

"She fought during school. She's not afraid to get up in people's faces."

It was another ten minutes when Kiva knocked Tora to the ground, Tora was soon going to be black and blue along with her face and arms. Kiva was soon going to have a shiner on her left eye. That was the time when Yumi, Victoria, James, Robert, Mark, Yukito and Kisho took off toward the two girls. Yumi and Victoria both grabbed Kiva's arms as James and Mark picked Tora up from the ground. The two girls were determined for another round.

"Enough, both of you. You are acting like children!" Renamon snapped appearing a second later.

Kiva shrugged off Yumi and Victoria before looking down at Puppymon, a sharp look in her eye giving him the hint.

"We're out of here. Tora don't ever think about talking to us again," Puppymon said. Both Kiva and Puppymon stormed away heading toward a forest.

Yumi, Victoria and Renamon soon followed behind. The two girls gave Tora a hard glare before leaving to catch up with Kiva.

Tora struggled through James and Mark's grips releasing her arms, she picked up Lalamon and stormed the opposite way going along the outside of the forest.

"This is just great, now what?"

"Might as well follow Tora. Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon can handle themselves," Mark replied.

As the guys went to follow Tora, something caught their attention down below. A horde of green blobs made their way toward the hill.

"Not again, I thought that Numemon doesn't like sunlight," Kisho said.

Over head, black clouds soon rolled in causing thunder to rumble. The five dropped their heads in annoyance as the Numemon continued their charge.

"I suggest we…RUN!" screamed Mark who took off holding on to Gaomon's left gloved paw and Kisho's right hand.

The other guys were right behind the two brothers terrified as the Numemon continued to throw sludge at them.

Through the forest, Yumi, Victoria and Kiva all caught up with each other, the five were walking in silence as they went further and further into the density of trees. Renamon and Puppymon were walking ahead of the group scouting the area for any problems. Neither girl had any idea of what was going on outside the forest, which seemed to be fine with them. Kiva still wasn't calming down any, and it was radiating off her like fire. Yumi and Victoria were soon getting the hint of her rage still building inside her to keep their distant.

Still walking through the field, Tora finally released Lalamon who floated next to her concern.

"Tora, you going to be okay?"

"No, I'm still angry at Kiva, I can't believe she actually attacked me like that. Lalamon, tell me the truth how bad is my eye?"

"Hope you like a black and purple mix."

"Oh god, my perfect complexion."

"I hate to say it, but you did have it coming."

"Why are you taking her side?"

"I'm not. You were the one to provoke her causing you to develop that new look."

"But she didn't have to get so physical. She could have told me no."

"She did Tora. You didn't or wouldn't listen."

"I was being an airhead wasn't I?"

"A bad one."

"Great. Especially when we have other enemies here to deal with I don't think I needed to make enemies with her."

"Up ahead, I see two of them," called out a Numemon.

"What the?" Tora asked looking back to see green blobs coming their way.

"Numemon!" Lalamon informed.

"RUN!" Tora screamed.

The Numemon ran toward them still throwing sludge at the two. Tora grabbed hold of Lalamon as she turned into the forest to hopefully hide in the trees. But it didn't seem to stop the Numemon.

"Pelt them!"

Tora hid behind a tree holding on to Lalamon close to her chest her heart racing. She was more terrified than she ever thought she ever be. Lalamon knew that she had to do something for Tora. Lalamon got out of Tora's grip and floated out into the clearing anger filling her face.

"Seed shot!" Lalamon screamed as she prepared to send out the attack. The three Numemon that were chasing them stopped in the tracks giving out a holler before making a retreat.

"What the?" Lalamon questioned confused.

"Lalamon, nice going!" Tora cheered hugging her digimon.

"I never did anything."

"If you didn't do anything, then…?" Tora questioned. It wasn't long till her question was answered. Large, thick, yellow legs stopped behind the two girls with a thunderous thud. Tora gave a tiny squeak as she quickly backed away once again, Lalamon back in her arms.

"Who or what is that?" Tora asked.

"That's Monzaemon," Lalamon answered.

"Come join us in Toy town."

"Lalamon…" Tora breathed her body screaming for her to run.

"He's a gentle digimon who is in charge of a place called Toy town. It's a place where all abandoned digimon toys go. He takes care of them."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Monzaemon said, but it wasn't easing Tora's fear. Something about him didn't seem normal.

"Tora, you can release me now," Lalamon said reassuringly.

"I don't think so," Tora simply said continuingly to back away.

Further in the forest sitting on a high branch were Kiva and Puppymon. Kiva had both her knees brought up to her chest with Puppymon resting on the small opening between knee and chest. Yumi sat beside her on another branch, her right leg bent while her left leg dangled over the edge. Victoria had her back against the tree with Renamon sitting sideways so both her legs dangled over the edge.

"Did anyone else hear the explosion?" Yumi asked raising her head.

"How could you not? I think it came from over there," Renamon pointed toward where a cloud of dust billowed through a small area. "Should we go investigate it?"

"No, let them deal with it. Their fine without us," answered Yumi not giving any indication of moving.

Renamon got the hint pretty quickly, since hanging with the three girls to go along with everything they do no matter what. She wasn't afraid to sit back watching the others fight, well unless it had to do something with her partner.

Everyone went silent again as Kiva went back to her writing once more in her notebook. Puppymon didn't seem to be bothered by her moving, he held great respect for her no matter what was going on.

Tora and Lalamon soon came across a large place one seen at most amusement parks. The streets were wide and paved, in a lined up organized fashion were all multicolour houses with turrets. Tora and Lalamon were in awe of the new place.

"It looked barren, why is that Lalamon?"

"Something's wrong. Very, very wrong."

James appeared out of nowhere running past Tora and Lalamon with a toy car chasing him.

"What fun this is."

"James? I know your naturally weird, but what is going on?"

Soon after James left, Mark appeared being chased by a train, Robert wasn't far behind being chased by toy soldiers.

"Um…Lalamon, I'm confused here."

"So am I. Why are they acting so strange?"

Kisho ran past along with a helicopter toy. What crossed Tora's mind was that the digimon were no where in sight. And the voices were very, very strange.

"Wonder where our digimon friends are," Tora asked looking around.

"And where Kiva, Victoria and Yumi are," Lalamon replied.

"Oh yeah," Tora responded with a sigh, she truly didn't care about them at all.

The two continued down the street not really noticing Kiva, Victoria or Yumi around. Tora figured that the three were probably trying to destroy the toys somewhere. Further down the street Tora and Lalamon came to a store where a chest sat in the middle of the floor, shouts could be heard from inside.

"Doesn't that sound…?" Tora asked.

"Like Bearmon?" Lalamon finished looking at Tora.

The two rushed into the store heading toward the chest. Tora examined the box trying to locate an opening.

"Can somebody hear us?" Bearmon cried out.

"Bearmon, what happened?" Tora asked. "Where are the other digimon?"

"We're all in here two!" the other digimon replied. There came a frantic scratching noise coming from all sides of the boxes and groans from the other digimon.

"Get us out of here, get us out of here!" Labramon panicked.

"Labramon, get off!" cried out Penguinmon.

"Bear, is Renamon and Puppymon in there?" Lalamon asked.

"No, we haven't seen them. I don't think they were ever caught," answered Gaomon.

"Well that's good news. What happened anyway?"

"After the four of you took off, we decided to go after you to make sure everything was all right, that's when the Numemon attacked us," Bearmon said.

~Flashback to James and Bearmon~

The guys continued to run through the forest fear filling their bodies. Mark and Kisho still stayed ahead of the group. The Numemon were quickly advancing on them, Mark came up with a quick plan as sludge was thrown at them.

"Split up guys, it's the only way," Mark called out.

"Right!" the others agreed.

James headed off to the left with Bearmon, while Yukito, Robert and their digimon headed off to the right while Mark, Kisho and their digimon continued to go straight. The Numemon split off into the three groups going after each kid.

"Keep running, just keep running!" yelled James to Bearmon as the two got further into the forest.

"James, look out!" Bearmon shouted.

"What for?" James asked as Bearmon knocked James to the ground. Two yellow legs appeared in front of them. The Numemon were chased away by laser blasts from Monzaemon's eyes. James looked up freaked out of his mind seeing the bright glowing eyes.

"Holy…run for your lives!" James screamed.

The scrambled to their feet to get away from Monzaemon. Bearmon was determined to attack Monzaemon, but James wouldn't allow it.

"Bearmon, there is no way we could fight him, he is way too big for you buddy."

"Hearts Attack! Those two!!" Monzaemon yelled as blue green coloured heart bubbles shot out from his body, two of the envelope James and Bearmon.

~Flashback to Robert, Yukito, Penguinmon and Tentomon~

"Pick it up guys, let's go!" screamed Yukito holding on to Roberts hand pulling him forward.

"Toy town is just simply an amazing place to be in!" Monzaemon said calmly.

"Ice prism!" shouted Penguinmon shooting ice from its beak.

"Electro shocker!" cried out Tentomon.

"Hearts Attack! Those four!" Monzaemon commanded. Four hearts enveloped Yukito, Robert, Penguinmon and Tentomon. Yukito looked horrid at the hearts, even in the hearts he tried to claw his way out.

~Flash back to Kisho, Labramon, Mark and Gaomon~

"Double hand!"

"Retrieve bark!"

"Nothings working!" screamed Kisho.

"Hearts Attack! Them all!"

The two boys and their digimon were all floating in the heart shape bubbles looking mildly content.

"So all of you will now serve us! You're all going into our community toy box. Our toy box is only filled with children!"

~Flashback~

Tora let out a sigh as she rested her elbows on the top of the chest as she placed her hands on her face. Lalamon rested on top of the box worried more than ever.

"Bearmon, tell us what could have happened to Monzaemon to change him," Lalamon asked.

"We don't know!" replied Bearmon. Labramon was still freaking out scratching every surface.

"Please get us out of here," Labramon hyperventilated.

"How do we get you all out of here?" Tora asked feeling Labramon's pain, she too was claustrophobic.

"You have to defeat Monzaemon yourselves," Gaomon said in a strained voice obviously struggling with Labramon.

"You have to be joking. I hate to say this but I really wish that Kiva, Victoria and Yumi were here they could help us," Tora sighed her hands covering her mouth.

"Tora, come on we need to help them, we need to stop Monzaemon," Lalamon urged floating in front of her face.

"Your right," Tora sighed.

The two left the store leaning on the ledge of the window. Tora looked around at her surroundings hoping that something, anything could help them. Kisho ran past them not even noticing the girls'. Tora watched him run by annoyed of how ridiculous this was all becoming.

In the forest Puppymon's ears began to perk up along with Renamon's. Their heads turned toward the location of the town. Kiva stopped writing staring at Puppymon concerned with his unusual reaction. Victoria raised her eyebrow in confusion trying to make sense of why Renamon was becoming interested in something in the distance.

"Ren, what's wrong with you?" Victoria asked leaning forward.

'_Puppymon? What are you looking at?'_ Kiva asked.

"There is something going on over there," Renamon and Puppymon replied in unison.

"Want to be a little more clearer on that?" Yumi asked looking down at Renamon who was now standing up.

"Trouble!" Renamon answered.

"Look, the others can handle it themselves," Yumi replied.

"I can't sense the digimon, only Lalamon," Puppymon responded sniffing the air.

"Maybe the guys are wondering around somewhere else," Yumi simply answered.

"No, none of them are around."

Yumi glanced at Victoria and Kiva trying to figure out the best plan would be. Kiva shrugged uncaringly, while Victoria shook her head. They didn't know what to do, the only thing that could come to mind was helping, but that wasn't in their nature. The digimon knew that their first instinct was to help those in need. Yumi let out a groan as she lifted her head to look up through the branches.

"I can't believe I am going to say this, but let's go and check it out," Yumi groaned refusing to move.

Back in Toy town, Tora and Lalamon were once again running for their lives once again, Monzaemon was once again shooting laser beams from his eyes.

"Running from a large Teddy bear is not my cup of tea," moaned Tora dodging the beams.

"Seed shot!" yelled Lalamon shooting seeds from her mouth. The explosion from the seeds made contact with Monzaemon but didn't affect him. Lalamon stared in shock that he still stood.

"Lalamon, just run," Tora pleaded noticing that her digimon was determined to continue to fight.

"Diamond storm!"

"Puppy claw!"

"What the?" Tora gasped.

"Tora either get out of the way or be prepared to fight!" yelled Yumi running toward her.

"But…I…"

"Hearts Attack!"

"The hell is that!" screamed Victoria.

"Don't let them touch you," Tora warned.

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon! Fox Tail Inferno!" The flames from her tail hit the hearts causing them to disappear.

As Kyubimon and Wolfmon continued to fight off Monzaemon, Lalamon watched hopelessly from the sidelines, she needed to help them.

"I might be a softy, but I am definitely an not a pushover cry baby," Lalamon said determinedly. "Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

Lalamon digivolved into a tall green body with three sharp leaf like fingers, point feet and a long vine like tail with five spikes at the bottom of the tail. Her face was yellow face with pedals along the side with a pink triangle on her forehead. On the back were deep green leaves like wings.

"Wow, she's gorgeous!" Tora gasped staring at the tall sunflower like digimon in front of her.

"Sunshine beam!" Sunflowmon yelled, her face glowed yellow and fired an extremely powerful blast of solar energy toward Monzaemon. "How dare you harm my friends!"

The zipper on his back bursts open revealing a black gear flying out in the air before being shattered into a million of shards. He lets out a moan as he collapses on to his back defeated. Sunflowmon smiles as she feels her body revert back to Lalamon. Tora lets out a small laugh as she drops to her knees next to Lalamon as she engulfs her into a hug.

"You are completely amazing Lalamon."

It didn't take long before all the digimon were freed from the chest and the boys were freed from the spell. Monzaemon soon came around to tell the group to tell them what happened.

"Usually, when kids get tired of their toys, they just abandon them and throw them away! It's so sad! So I created a home for these toys. Then...I wanted to make the toys more important to their owners, and I found a way to let their owners walk in their shoes!"

"You mean by turning children into zombies? Are you insane?" Tora asked, even with all that happened she was still trying to comprehend the madness of Monzaemon.

"I really don't believe he meant to that intentionally," Yukito replied.

"You're right, Joe, I didn't mean for that to happen, I really am sorry about it. Please accept my apology, I'll never do that again--really.

"Thankfully, but we know you would never hurt us on purpose," Kisho said.

"Of course not. But an evil feeling came over me."

"I'm just glad that Lalamon and I could make Monzaemon good again," Tora said.

"We're such a great pair."

"My friends, there's only one way I can truly show my gratitude, and that's by giving you all a real heart hug!

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva raise an eyebrow questioningly at the suggestion, what was he getting at. As for the guys they seemed rather alarmed and scared not to mention Tora.

"What is he talking about?" Yumi asked.

"Here we go! This is my gift to you. Hearts Attack--with a hug!" Monzaemon called out spreading out his arms as pink bubble hearts appear above the kids. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were now looking horrid at what was going on, they now didn't like what was to happen. One by one each digidestined and digimon were captured in a heart and began to float around. Yukito and the chaos triplets were madly trying to claw at the bubbles desperate to escape, apparently unlike the others who were now all content and giggling, the four were still their natural moody selves.


	8. Secrets let out, Evil is revealed

**A/N: Holy crap did this ever forever for me to finish. I am so sorry. A really big thank you to San Child of the wolves for giving me the idea for this chapter. I'm bring in Wizardmon into the picture, but unfortunately he doesn't stick around for too long. Thank you to San Child of the wolves and ProtogirlT for reviewing. Hope this chapter is good.**

Chapter eight

Secrets let out, Evil is revealed

The group had come along way since leaving toy town. Once again, the nine were traveling through a forest of evergreens. Cold air seemed to have picked up all of a sudden. A lot of them were not prepared for the sudden drop in temperature, as for Kiva, Yumi and Victoria neither one seemed to be affected by the coldness. Kiva especially who was already wearing a sweater any way didn't mind one way about it. The others started to shiver from the cold.

"I am actually not missing the heat right now, I so need to defrost," James said.

"On the contrary, I'm quite pleasantly feeling great, the cold is just what we needed," Bearmon replied walking casually next to James.

"What do you expect you're made of fur, of course the coldness is a great relief," James said.

"This weather is made for polar bears and penguins, not humans."

"Oh come on lighten up guys."

"You seriously can not be complaining already, you seriously rather be in the desert wandering in the heat with no breeze, no shade and no water? At least here it's mildly comfortable, we're surrounded by shade no to mention shade," Yumi shot back.

"Well sorry that we're not all cold blooded here," Mark retorted crossing his arms.

"You want to say that to my face you wise ass?" Yumi snapped impatiently.

"You make me laugh, all three of you do. There always seems to be something that you don't agree with. I thought this whole time we were suppose to be this group that stuck together no matter what. So far all I've seen is the three of you get your backs up about everything and shoot down every idea that we have."

"All right, that's it!" Yumi yelled running up to Mark as she punch him in the side of the face. Mark stumbled back unprepared for the impact. Yumi looked at him furiously, she could no longer take any more of their crap. With all the problems at home building inside plus being stuck in a new place was not making the situation any better. Mark quickly gathered his ground again, his fists ready for a fight.

"I'm never one known to attack a girl, but you know what, you deserve this right now."

"This is where the statement of acting like children comes into mind," groaned Victoria crossing her arms annoyed. Renamon shook her head as she disappeared up a nearby tree to get away from the fight. It was ridiculous for two humans to be fighting one another over a stupid argument. Renamon could remember Victoria getting angry for their childish behaviour the first day of arrival. There was never any reason for people to fight.

Soon Yumi and Mark were wrestling each on the ground, Yumi's hands around Mark's neck while his hands were tugging at Yumi's to release the pressure. James soon decided to intervene seeing that none of the other digidestined were determined to jump in. He pulled on Yumi's waist tugging her off of Mark. If it wasn't for quick thinking and releasing Yumi, James would have had a black eye and a broken nose.

"What the hell is your problem?" Yumi yelled now getting up into James' face.

"I was just trying to help you out," James replied innocently backing off.

"Well the next time don't, as for you," Yumi fumed turning toward Mark who was now in a sitting position. "The next time you decide to make any, any comments like that again, rethink them, or I swear I won't hold back."

Mark never said anything, but got the hint. Yumi turned away from him and made her way down the forest to get enough distance between her and everyone else. Victoria merely shook her head in disbelief, she understood that her friend was pissed off but they all needed to learn unless they could actually find a way out of this world there was no time for fighting.

"Humans will never make any sense to me," Puppymon sighed walking next to Kiva who was heading down the forest as well.

"I guess we're moving again," Yukito said.

Renamon jumped from the tree landing gracefully next to Victoria as the fourteen made their trek through the forest once again. No one said too much to anyone. Mark was still furious that Yumi attacked him like that. Was she seriously out of her mind? Now he knew why Goths tended to be such loners, they didn't know how to socialize with normal society.

Victoria strolled next to Kiva keeping her company while Renamon and Puppymon strolled on either side of their partners in a protective way.

Everyone else seemed to be in their own little world afraid to say a word fearing Yumi would snap at them. Puppymon on the other hand decided to keep the conversation up between him and Kiva, seeing that both didn't have to worry about talking aloud.

'_Kiva, how can you actually stand hanging with these people? I mean I can understand Yumi and Victoria, they are your friends. But what of the others?' _Puppymon thought to Kiva.

There was no answer from Kiva or any sign that she was even paying attention. Puppymon looked up to see what the problem was and saw that her and Victoria seemed to be in a conversation of their own. Well, Victoria was talking and Kiva was moving her hands in response. Puppymon knew that Kiva would never ignore him, that wasn't her thing.

'_Kiva, I know your talking with Victoria, but why are you ignoring me?'_ Puppymon asked trying his luck again.

Still nothing, Puppymon was between hurt and frustrated at the same time. He could see Kiva's hands quickly moving, he could make out some things she was saying but not the full conversation.

'_Puppymon, what do you think?'_ Kiva asked moments later.

Puppymon didn't say anything, Kiva looked down at him confused. What was his deal?

'_Puppymon did I upset you somehow?' _Kiva asked.

There was still nothing from Puppymon. Kiva shook her head to clear her thoughts as she looked back at Victoria. As for Puppymon he wandered over to Renamon slightly defeated.

"Puppymon what's wrong?" Renamon asked concerned.

"I can't communicate with Kiva by our thoughts. I think she's angry with me."

"Puppymon she is not angry with you. Just ask her what's going on," Renamon assured him.

Puppymon let out a sigh as he headed back to Kiva's side. Something in her eyes told him she was hurt by the silence between the two.

"Kiva is everything okay?" Puppymon asked.

Kiva looked down at Puppymon, although she showed no true emotion, she was happy to hear his voice after so long. She nodded her head letting him know she was fine. He watched as she quickly moved her hands. He could tell that she felt confused just like he was.

"At least we got that figured out," Yumi sighed.

"Seriously what is going on?" James asked impatiently as he walked a little further a head to see what was going with the girls.

"None of your business," Victoria shot back tilting her head over her right shoulder.

As the group continued their way through the forest the triplets got a little more ahead of the group seeing that they wanted their space as well as Kiva and Puppymon wanted to talk in privacy, seeing that they didn't have their security blanket anymore. The others kept to the back refusing to try and talk with them. Tora almost fell on her face as her feet connected with something on the ground.

"What the?" Tora questioned as she bent down to investigate what was on the ground. She saw a small black notebook lying open, picking it up Tora skimmed over the words to make sense of who it could belong to.

'Ever since arriving in this strange place people have constantly been trying to figure me out and interfere with my life. I feel like I'm trapped in a very controlled life all over again and I don't like it, it's bad enough it happens at home…I've been hearing their whispers of trying to understand what's wrong with me. I hate when people won't mind their own business…Me being mute is not a horrible thing, but I rather not have anyone know, I rather keep to my ability to just give them the cold shoulder."

"That's why she won't talk," Tora asked surprised.

"What are you talking about?"

"Kiva, she's mute!" Tora exclaimed holding up the notebook in one hand.

"How do you know its hers?" asked James.

"She is the only one that has a notebook, and the only one who hates people."

"So the secrets out. Wonder why she never told anyone?" asked Mark.

"No idea, maybe…"

"We should give it back to her Tora, it's none of our concern with what is in that book. It's Kiva's life no one else's," Yukito replied folding his arms in front of him.

"When did you become so protective Yukito?"

"I don't know why you are making a big deal of this just drop it."

The six fell silent there was no point in arguing about it anymore. The digimon looked at their partners confused for some time.

"This is why keeping secrets is a bad idea," Gaomon said.

It didn't take long for the others to catch up to the chaos triplets. Tora held the notebook close to her as if holding on to something most dear to her.

"Kiva, I think you dropped this," Tora said as innocently as she could. "You don't need to hide your secret anymore." Kiva, who already turned around, widened her eyes in horror. She snatched the notebook away from Tora's grasp and stared to back off. Looking down at Puppymon he nodded his head in a silent agreement before both took off into the forest. Kiva was horrified that everyone knew her secret . Further and further Kiva and Puppymon ventured into the forest.

Standing in the group Victoria, Yumi and Renamon looked accusingly at Tora. Tora for some unknown reason didn't seem too upset for what she did or who she told.

"I can't believe you read her journal, how dare you! That is a massive invasion of privacy," Yumi yelled.

"I didn't read all of it, only skimmed through it to understand who exactly owned the notebook. I caught glimpse of key words."

"Then you had to tell the others? I'm amazed she didn't attack you like last time."

As Kiva and Puppymon continued their run through forest, a freak snowstorm picked up clouding their vision. Kiva looked around wildly trying to find Puppymon, but the white blanket of snow did nothing to help.

"Frigimon, what's going on? I thought you were a peaceful digimon?" Puppymon asked. Kiva didn't understand what was going on or how he was able to see. There was no way she could communicate with Puppymon to get a better understanding of what the problem was.

"Kiva, wherever you are, RUN!" Puppymon commanded.

Kiva took the first chance she had and ran, hopefully toward Puppymon to protect him.

Puppymon stood his ground facing Frigimon, the giant snowman digimon didn't look like he was going to give up the fight too easily.

"Puppymon bite!" yelled Puppymon charging at Frigimon. Frigimon simply knocked him to the side, Puppymon slammed into a tree hard.

While the fight continued Kiva went further and further into the forest, the blizzard seemed to have stopped giving her more visibility but she still had no clue as to where she was. Everything all looked too similar for her own liking.

'_Shit, how did I manage to get myself stuck in this mess?'_ Kiva groaned finally stopping to catch her breath.

Looking around she noticed something out of the corner of her eye that she never saw before.

'_Mysterious building. I swear I didn't see it earlier. Oh well time to check it out!'_ Kiva decided heading toward the building. Kiva wasn't one to sit back, she was an adventurer when she wanted to be. Kiva realized that it looked like a metal laboratory. Nothing special seemed to be part of the building. There were five long windows all high across the wall. In front of her was a large door almost beckoning for her to come explore the place.

Carefully opening the door, Kiva stepped inside. Everything was black. Kiva kept the door opened enough for the light outside to shine in so she could search for the light source. But as she lightly brushed her hand over the wall a blinding flash appeared causing her to shut her eyes tight.

'_Reminder for next time, don't turn on bright lights,'_ Kiva scolded herself as she squinted her eyes at the place, it was bigger than the last place they were at but this one didn't include any weird machines, just chains hanging from the ceiling with giant round tubs in front of her. Kiva looked around in amazement this was something she was always fascinated with.

Back in the forest, Puppymon made his way toward hopefully the spot the others were. He was slightly limping on his right side after Frigimon caught him off guard.

"Kiva, where are you?" Puppymon asked out loud. He was deeply worried about Kiva, it didn't help either that they were split up and no way to communicate.

He kept moving with great difficulty but pushed the thought out of his head. Up ahead, he could hear voices talking, two different conversations were going on at once. One convo was with two female voices, he automatically recognized it to be Yumi's. With new hopes, Puppymon forced himself to move forward.

Yumi continued her conversation with Victoria not even noticing anything right away. As Victoria responded to Yumi's discussion, Yumi and Renamon who was walking next to the girls, noticed something black up ahead.

"Guys, I see Puppymon!" Renamon shouted running toward Puppymon.

"Where's Kiva?" Yumi asked running after Renamon with Victoria on her heels.

Once everyone was surrounding Puppymon, a sigh of relief left everyone that at least one of their friends were safe.

"Puppymon, what happened?" Renamon asked concerned lightly running her paw over his fur checking for any wounds.

"Kiva and I got separated, I have no idea where she could have gone. We were ambushed by Frigimon, he had a black gear in his back. I attacked him to protect Kiva. As I went to destroy the gear, he caught me off guard knocking me into a tree. Don't worry though, the gear is out. But I'm still highly worried."

"What's the plan?" James asked.

"We need to find Kiva," Yumi simply replied standing up.

"But we have no idea where she is," Mark responded.

"We'll search, I don't care how long it takes."

Back in the metal laboratory, Kiva went deeper and deeper inside. Curiosity was definitely getting to her with each step. Weird sounds could be heard all over the place. Kiva raised an eyebrow as she kept getting further and further. A growling could be heard from the right side of her. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked to see a fire cat standing on all fours ready to pounce.

"Lynxmon a beast type Digimon that evolved from an ancient Gatomon. Her fur is always on fire. Her Wild Nail Rush attack can cause a fire storm that will burn anything in seconds."

'_Holy shit!'_ gasped Kiva. She noticed a black gear sticking out of her neck.

"Wild Nail Rush!" screamed Lynxmon jumping high into the air.

Kiva didn't want to stick around for long, instinct told her to run, run as fast as she could possibly go. She headed toward the center of the building hoping to escape Lynxmon. A large tube filled with some sort of liquid along with a large gear sat in the middle of the room. Kiva could hear the thunderous sounds of Lynxmon's paws hitting the ground running at top speed. She was trapped, and there was nothing she could do.

As Kiva got closer to the weird tube something came over her making her realize that this had something to do with why Puppymon and herself could not communicate mentally. As she went to search for the off power, Lynxmon came out of nowhere attacking her to the ground and pining her there. Lynxmon slashed at her threateningly. Blood began to gush from her left thigh. Surprisingly enough Kiva didn't notice the pain. Kiva used her right leg to force Lynxmon off her, with the few precious seconds, she dragged herself away from Lynxmon searching for anything that could help her.

As Lynxmon prepared herself once more for a fight, Kiva located a discarded pole on the ground. Picking it up, Kiva lifted herself up using the pole like a crutch, she spun the pole around beside her as if it were weightless. Lynxmon's flame body began to rise as it prepared to send out a Thermal Mane. Ignoring the gash on her leg Kiva ran toward Lynxmon ready to strike the flame digimon.

But as Kiva went to strike Lynxmon swatted her away as if her were just an annoying fly. Kiva let out a groan as she landed on the ground. This was it for Kiva, there was no way she could escape now.

As Kiva lay on the ground near unconscious, a new digimon emerged on the scene. This digimon wore a blue pointed witch's hat with a white skull on the front. He wore a yellow suit with red patches around the shins. There were zippers around the legs and arms. He also wore a blue cape. His name was Wizardmon.

The other digidestineds were walking through the forest stilling trying to locate Kiva. No one had any idea of where she could be. Yumi and Victoria let out a groan with no sign. Renamon strolled next to the girl's calmly as she held on to Puppymon.

"Don't worry, we'll find her," reassured Renamon to both Puppymon and the girls.

"How long is that going to take. I mean we've searched for two hours, these trees are becoming very, very alike," moaned Victoria.

"How much more walking do we have to do?" Tora whined.

"Please don't start whining now Tora, I have zero patience for this," replied Yumi.

A beeping sound could be heard from the side of Yumi's bag. Raising her eyebrow Yumi picked up the device and looked at it, maybe it was leading them toward Kiva.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't?" Victoria asked.

"There's a black dot and a peach dot on the screen," replied Yumi.

"Why doesn't that make any sense? It just means that we found Kiva and you found your digimon at last."

"I still find it a little strange that I've searched for so long for my digimon and now this."

"Come on, we should go check it out."

Back in the laboratory, Kiva still lay on the ground unconscious, while Wizardmon fought Lynxmon protecting her. Lynxmon was on the offensive not ready to back down from a fight.

"Thunder ball!" Wizardmon shouted.

A bright orange electrical ball escaped his staff heading toward Lynxmon. Lynxmon dodged the attack jumping toward the wall, before forcing herself back toward Wizardmon ready to attack.

"Thermal Mane!" Lynxmon shouted.

Wizardmon flew into the air dodging the attack barely missing the flame. Wizardmon floated in the air putting the distance between him and Lynxmon with only a couple of feet. Both stared at each other with cold eyes. Wizardmon didn't want to break the connection with her encase Lynxmon decided to go after Kiva once again.

"Magical Game!" Wizardmon cried out pointing his staff toward Lynxmon's neck destroying the black gear on Lynxmon's neck.

Free of the darkness, Lynxmon shook her head in confusion as she disappeared further into the laboratory. With Lynxmon gone, Wizardmon went to Kiva's side kneeling down to observe Kiva's wounds.

Kiva now had her eyes closed, she seemed to have lost a lot of blood from the previous attack. Wizardmon took the time to clean up her wound and dressed it. He was worried about her safety and didn't know if anyone was coming for her. He saw a digivice on the side of her jeans. Instantly, he realized that she must have been one of the digidestined there to save the digiworld.

Standing back up, Wizardmon looked at the strange machine that stood only feet from him and Kiva.

"There is something very strange about this thing," Wizardmon mused still staring at the machine. "What importance is this that has you here child?"

With no more wondering, Wizardmon pointed his staff at the machine destroying it. The weird liquid spilled out on to the floor. Wizardmon casted a force field blocking the liquid from going anywhere near him or Kiva.

Yumi more determined now, ran through the forest her digivice held in front of her the two beeping dots were getting louder with every step she took.

"I never knew that she could run," admitted James trying to keep up.

"She was a soccer player, and is a swimmer. She needs all the speed she can get."

"Up ahead, we're getting close!" called Yumi.

Yumi was worried that if she stopped or looked away from the device she would lose both dots and would loose the chances of finding her digimon.

The metal laboratory came into view minutes later causing everyone to pick up the speed. Labramon and Tentomon went up ahead to get a clearer idea of what they were to expect. Tentomon flew to one of the windows looking inside.

"Tentomon, what do you see?" Robert asked.

"I see Kiva lying on the floor she's not moving, and someone else is in there as well. I don't know who."

"Come on then, if there's no absolute danger I'm going to investigate, I need to make sure Kiva is okay," Yumi urged heading toward the door.

"What if whatever is in there will attack us too?" asked Bearmon.

"I don't care, I need to know that she's safe."

Inside, Wizardmon remained at Kiva's side making sure that she was okay. Kiva seemed to be breathing normally, but who knew how much blood she truly lost or how much strength she really had.

At the sound of the doors being open, Wizardmon stood up cautiously. He didn't know what he was to expect. Whether it be evil digimon or the other digidestined, but he was not going to risk it. He rose into the air and flew off into the dark part of the laboratory until he was completely out of sight.

Yumi who was the first to enter the building could see that the peach dot no longer blinked leaving only the peach dot behind. Her heart dropped, bringing her spirits down. She was really hoping that she had found her partner. But at the time her concerned was to make sure that Kiva was all right.

The seven digidestined and eight digimon ran toward the unconscious Kiva. Puppymon, Victoria, Yumi and Renamon were the first to make it to Kiva's side. Puppymon nudged Kiva's check with his nose hoping to wake her up.

"Check for a pulse, who knows if she's still breathing," Victoria said.

Yumi placed her main and middle fingers on Kiva's neck. She could feel a light pulse coming from her.

"She's still alive, I can feel her pulse. Oh god Kiva, please open your eyes."

'_What happened to me?'_ Kiva moaned forcing her eyes open.

'_We were kind of hoping you could tell us,'_ Puppymon replied.

'_I can't even remember…wait a minute…you can hear me?'_

'_Hey, I can hear you…that means we can communicate once again,'_ Puppymon mused.

None of the others knew what was going on, they didn't have the same ability to read minds like the two did. But some how or another, Yumi and Victoria figured out that something great was going on seeing that Kiva now opened her eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. If you can call it that," joked Yumi.

Kiva nodded her head in agreement. She didn't want to show how overly amused she was about being back with Puppymon and how great it was to be able to talk to him again.

"Come on, we should probably get out of here and find some place to stay. I really don't want to be out in the forest, and this doesn't seem to be the greatest place to stay," Victoria insisted.

Yumi could see Kiva struggle to her feet. Although Kiva had high intolerance to pain, she still had problems getting to her feet.

"Can you stand on your own?" Yumi asked.

Kiva shook her head as she remained on the ground. Yumi extended out her right hand offering it to Kiva. Kiva took it appreciatively as she got to her feet. Victoria got to Kiva's other side helping her along. None of the others bothered to help Kiva seeing that the three girls would never allow them to go near them.

It didn't take long before the seventeen were out of the building and heading down the forest once again. This time their pace was a little more slow than expected seeing that everyone needed to wait for Victoria, Kiva and Yumi, as well everyone, including the digimon were exhausted from a long day's journey.

"I'm glad that we got Kiva back safe and sound," Robert said after half and hour of silence.

"I'll agree with you there. It would have been devastating if something bad were to happen to her," Tentomon replied.

"You do realize that if Tora didn't decide to read her diary and tell the rest of you none of this would have happened right?" Yumi scolded.

"Why do you have to still be bitching about that?" Tora demanded turning around.

"Because, it still wasn't right."

"Look, we're not going to get anywhere if all you do is argue. We have to keep our minds open to find a place to sleep, other than sleeping inside," Renamon replied getting in between Yumi and Tora.

"I agree with Renamon. For five minutes, no arguments, I don't think my head can take it any more," Victoria replied.

"I have to agree with Victoria, the petty arguments are ridiculous," Gaomon, Puppymon and Lalamon agreed in unison.

After the three digimon made their comments, Yumi and Tora went completely quiet refusing to say a word to each other.

For another thirty minutes, Kiva limped onward with the help of Yumi and Victoria. She never felt any pain, just the annoyance that she was attacked. She felt weak for allowing Yumi and Victoria to help her walk instead of walking on her own.

"Up ahead everyone, I see something," called Kisho.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" everyone asked all at once.

Sure enough through the thick forest stood a three storey, around four castle-like blue coloured turrets, the walls were a soft peach colour. Eight windows were on either side of the building, four on the upper level and four on the lower. Above the window was a balcony with one large window. The nine digidestined stared at it in awe, their answers for a place to stay other than the forest came true. Lucky for them to find the place, Bearmon, Gaomon, Penguinmon and Labramon were looking exhausted. Lalamon rested in Tora's arms already passed out, while Renamon and Puppymon were still wide awake.

"It looks like a hotel, thank god," Tora cheered startling poor Lalamon out of her sleep.

"Perfect timing too, I don't think any of the digimon were going to be able to stay awake any longer," Mark remarked.

With that the kids, except for Yumi, Victoria and Kiva, took off toward the building, eager to have a place to sleep. Yumi couldn't wait to get all her water bottles filled up in the emergency that once again they were stranded in the desert.

"Think this place in legit?" asked Victoria.

"I don't, but in all seriousness what place in this world is legit?" responded Yumi with a sigh.

'_I don't trust this place, something seems off to me,'_ Kiva thought to Puppymon.

'_I agree with you, do you think the others will listen though?'_ Puppymon asked.

'_I doubt it, James is to strong headed to listen to reason, Tora, well there is no way she'll listen to anything other than, we found a gift shop. Mark he might, it all depends upon how much he wants to just rest. Robert and Yukito will probably listen," _Kiva replied.

"Okay, either you don't have anything to say, or you have a lot on your mind," Yumi said moments later looking from Puppymon to Kiva.

"We just think that this place is all that safe. It seems off, in a very strange way," replied Puppymon.

"I agree with you there. But what other choices do we have? We could sleep in the forest with little to no security, or have at least a place to rest and refill on water. We'll keep our eyes and ears open to any problems, I assure you," Yumi responded.

"I thought you were the one to stay away from the eeriness?"

"No I'm the one to explore things, just as long as we don't get killed all the same."

Mark and James were already the first to reach the door before any of the others. James had his hand on the handle ready to turn. He had his doubts about what to expect from the place.

"Come on dude, just open the door, what's the big to do about it?" asked Mark.

"How about an evil digimon popping out at us and completely obliterating us in a heart beat."

"You're overreacting. Just open it."

James turned the handle and open the door wide. Both boys look inside to see two visible floors before them with a landing visible from the ground. When the two looked up to the second level they could see quite a bit of door. The décor was predominantly red, it looked a little more Gothic on the inside than on the outside. When the chaos triplets joined the rest at the door their jaws dropped in amazement.

"With a little bit of black it will look like a true Goth place."

"Looks exactly like my room," commented Victoria.

"That didn't take long for these three to be so attached to the eeriness," Tora sighed in exasperation.

"Oh bite me, just because your taste in décor is light and preppy doesn't mean anything. This just gives everything class. Something you'll never know."

"Enough, both of you. I don't like it any more than either of you, but for right now at least we have some place safe to stay, that's out of the woods and harms way. We just have to keep on our toes about this building all right?" Yukito replied.

"I agree with Yukito, we just want to be careful. And talk quieter or you'll wake everybody up," Robert answered indicating to the digimon who were all sleeping in a group all except for Renamon, Puppymon and Labramon. Renamon looked at the place sceptically, she agreed with Puppymon and Kiva. If she had her way, she would have dragged Victoria out of there and found a safer spot.

"What now?" asked Kisho.

"I say that we either find a place to eat, or some place to rest," suggested Yumi.

"Let's rest later, I want to explore this hotel, maybe there is someone in here who can help us," Robert answered.

"I doubt it, there is no way anyone but us is here. Haven't you realized since we've been here that there have been no other humans?" Victoria said.

"Have we come to an explanation about that yet or are we still in denial of why were here?" Puppymon asked in a trance.

"I think some of us are still in denial," replied Yumi.

"So I take it that you found an explanation about this place then?" Mark responded impatiently.

"No, I'm simply stating that every time we something that is human based you automatically think that other humans are here as well," Yumi answered her voice getting a hint of frustration.

"Will the two of you stop arguing, your giving me a headache," Renamon shouted.

The other digimon who were once fast asleep woke up startled. Renamon stood there looking at both Mark and Yumi her eyes filled with fire.

"Sorry Renamon," Yumi silently apologized. Yumi could feel Victoria's anger rise within her. Her and Renamon were slowly bonding in more than one way. It was as if they were both synced up some how like Kiva and Puppymon.

Bearmon who was now fully awake began to sniff the air.

"What is that delicious aroma?" Bearmon asked.

"Bearmon, what are you talking about?" James asked.

"I smell it too, the delicious odour of food," Puppymon breathed.

"Where?" all of the kids gasped at once.

"Follow me!" Bearmon said excited running toward the smell of the food.

Bearmon, Gaomon, Tentomon, Penguinmon and Lalamon took off down the hallway followed by Mark, James, Tora, and Robert. Kisho, Labramon and Yukito stayed behind with Puppymon, Renamon, Yumi, Victoria and Kiva.

"You know the three of you can go off with the others, we're fine on our own," Victoria said.

"There's no rush, besides we just wanted to make sure that Kiva is okay," Yukito replied.

"That is such a lie and you know it," Victoria responded.

Yukito didn't say anything more, he knew that Victoria was joking even though she didn't show it.

A few minutes later the chaos triplets, Yukito, Kisho and their digimon arrived in the dining room where the others were already seated by a huge table full of food. The walls were once again painted a red colour and the furniture was all black. On the table was a red table cloth with black trimmings.

"Is it actually safe to eat?" questioned Yukito staring at the table as everyone stuffed their faces.

"But it's so good," James replied.

"Sorry to say but this looks like a massive set-up to me," Puppymon replied once again in a trance, although the aroma was slowly getting to him.

"I agree with Puppymon and Kiva. I swear this could be some sort of trap," Yumi replied. "Well if one of us gets sick, we all get sick," answered James who still continued to eat.

"Stubborn morons," Yumi muttered to Kiva and Victoria.

"Might as well join, we need our strength," Victoria reluctantly replied.

Yumi and Victoria helped Kiva into a seat near the end of the table. She continued to fight them trying to prove that she could do it herself.

Once the eight were seated they began to eat what was there on the table. The triplets had to admit that the food was to die for. It had been a while since their bodies even had food. "I must remember to get all the bottles filled up so we actually have water if anything should happen to us to put us back into the desert."

"Why worry about that right now?"

No other words were exchange as everyone dug in. Renamon seemed to be the only one to be a little more respectful when it came to eating. She took her own time tasting the food. Puppymon became highly picking with a lot of the food around him, he was just like his partner who was moving her fork around. Yumi and Victoria did eat the food in front of them, but their plates, compared to the others were all small amounts.

"Are you guys not hungry?" asked Labramon.

"Kiva, picky, us, just not that hungry," Yumi explained.

Later that night, the children found relaxing hot springs just outside the building. On the one side the girls were all soaking the warm water except for Kiva who was sitting with her knees close to her chest watching the others relax. Tora leaned against the rocks allowing the water to take away all her worries. Any pain that she had from all the walking seemed to have fully disappeared. Lalamon rested next to her, floating above the water like a cork. As for Yumi only the top lip and up were the only thing to be able to see. Victoria kept her eyes closed feeling the warmth on her skin. Renamon sat next to Victoria soaking up the water.

"This is so relaxing, don't you agree?" Tora asked.

"Yes, I must agree with you Tora for once," replied Victoria in a dreamy voice.

"How come Kiva isn't joining us?" asked Tora.

"She's not big on water," Victoria simply answered, although there was more to that.

Kiva merely sat there staring off into the distance not even caring what was going. She was glad that no one really minded her sitting there and not joining. On the other side of the bathing area blocked by a partition between the two groups. Mark, James, Kisho, Robert and their digimon were enjoying the water. Robert sat opposite Mark and James scrubbing his skin with a cloth.

"This warm water is so soothing to my skin."

"I have to agree with you there," Kisho said.

"Finally some actual time to relax, I don't think my feet could take another minute of walking."

"Dude, as long as you spray your shoes before getting back in them, they are rank."

Yukito soon appeared at the door with a towel around his waist. His skin looked more pale than ever. His body was extremely tiny in the long run, with only a little bit of muscle build in his abs and arms.

"Dude, there are no girls here," Mark called to him.

"I fully aware of that _dude_, I wasn't sure my paleness would blind you or not," Yukito replied sarcastically.

"Come on in Yukito the water is great," Penguinmon called floating on the water.

"I still can't believe you would actually go swimming in warm water like this but can't stand the desert," Yukito said stepping into the water.

"Well I do prefer the cold water, but this is more relaxing."

Yukito shook his head as sunk low into the water till only his head was visible just like Kisho's was. As the guys soaked Puppymon swam by enjoying the water much as they were.

"How come your not with Kiva?" asked Gaomon.

"Wanted to go swimming. Renamon kind of kicked me out," Puppymon answered not bothering to stop.

Time ticked by before everyone reluctantly left the baths. The girls who were still in their separate rooms changed into more comfy clothes. Yumi wore her black soft cotton pyjama bottoms and black spaghetti tank top. The top was skin tight clinging to her curves. She braided her hair to keep it out of the way.

As for Victoria she would black with purple strip pyjama bottoms with a deep purple short sleeve midriff style top. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail.

Tora on the other hand wore a soft pink nightgown that fell to her knees. Her hair was tied in a braid just like Yumi's.

Kiva who changed in the bathroom to get more privacy came out wearing a simple black pyjama bottoms and top, the top had long sleeves with a v-neck. Her hair was in the same style it was only minutes ago.

"I feel so refreshed, and ready for a good nights sleep, what about the three of you?" Tora asked.

"I'll admit that, I think my clothes need to be air out for a short time," Yumi replied.

Leaving the little room they were in, the girls entered another bedroom where the guys were already waiting for them in robes. There were ten beds lined up four on each side waiting for somebody to sleep in them. The walls yet again were red. The sheets were red with the comforter a black colour. This was any Goths dream, which in reality was making Yumi, Victoria and Kiva admire the place more.

"This room is amazing."

"Finally a soft bed," Tora squealed climbing into one of the beds.

"Nothing feels better than a bed."

"You got that right." Soon everyone was under the covers ready for bed. Tora, Victoria, Yumi and Kiva were on one side of the room with the boys on the other side. Their digimon lay next to their partners, they were just as excited about sleeping on a bed for once.

"I don't know what's worse. Not having anyone to nag at you or actually missing everything in your room," said Yumi breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Just looking at everything here, its making me wish I were actually home, to be around my stuff. I miss my skull collections."

"Yumi, that's a little freaky," Kisho said.

"My room is covered in them. Along with fairies and books."

"Do you still have that skull candle holder I got you for Christmas?" Victoria asked.

"Sitting on top of my bookshelf hopefully out of my moms reach…"

Silence filled the room, Yumi didn't want to go on any longer down memory lane. It was heart breaking as it was to go through all her collection and not be able to have them in her hand.

"I miss home, do you think we'll be able to get back?" Kisho asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it little buddy," Mark replied.

"I have no doubts that our disappearance caused a fuss at school. I can't believe we've been gone for so long," Yukito remarked.

"Can we please stop talking about it. I'm getting massively homesick right now and I'm one not to eager to see my mom, that's telling you something right there," Yumi pleaded, her back was to everyone. Her voice was quivering, and everyone knew that she was not one to show weakness. "We should just go to sleep then," Tora said softly. Her voice was full of remorse. "Goodnight guys!" Tora called.

"Goodnight girls!" the guys chorused.

Silence filled the room almost immediately as everyone drifted off into sleep. The lights in the entire mansions finally went out plunging everything into darkness. Yumi lay awake staring out the window to the dark window, as much as she wanted to be far away from everything and just on her own, she couldn't help but admit deep down inside that she yearned to be back home so bad.

Kiva who was on Yumi's side stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. She couldn't help but hope that her mother was all right. She had so many problems in the past with her, but there was so much going on she couldn't help but worry. The digiworld was amazing in so many ways but there had to be more.

After so long Kiva finally fell asleep leaving Yumi to be the only one up, even all the digimon were out cold. Sitting up in bed Yumi looked over on the other beds to make sure that no one was up or stirring. Seeing that the cost was clear, Yumi flipped the sheets over and climbed out of bed. Tiptoeing out of the room Yumi made her way to the bathroom on the other side of the hallway. Weird voices could be heard down below, but they never bothered her.

Reaching the bathroom Yumi looked at her reflection, a mixture of sadness and anger filled her eyes. She was furious that she was even showing any sadness. Tears formed in her eyes but she refused to shed any of them, there was no sense to make herself any more weak than she already felt. Her make up she once had on was now completely gone leaving only her pale skin and natural beauty.

"Why was I even brought here? There is no reason for me to be here. I have no digimon, what do I seriously bring to this group?" Yumi criticized her reflection. Rage was now getting a hold of her. She stared at the mirror furiously as tears fell down her cheeks. "Damn it!" Yumi swore as she wiped the tears away.

"So not all the digidestined are able to work together, what a pity," a voice said from outside.

Yumi looked up again to face the mirror, water dripping down her chin. Her eyebrow raised in confusion, she thought everyone was still sleeping.

"Please tell me I'm not losing," Yumi muttered as she left the bathroom to go back to the hall.

Everything was still dark and silent, this was definitely her world, her time. As she made her way to the stairs a weird sensation came over her. Something definitely wasn't right here.

Nearing the stairs a digimon completely covered in flames except for the metallic helmet on its head and hands. Yumi stood frozen in her tracks, there was nothing she could do. Cursing herself she turned around hoping to escape going the other way. But when she turned around, another digimon appeared with chrome Digizoid. Yumi's heart raced rapidly, she was scared out of her mind.

"Flarerizamon is a hot-blooded digimon who has both a heart that's hot as fire and the power of a dragon. The flames of his body are his high temperature skin burning, but because his skin has a surprising regenerative power, he can continue to burn until his breath is extinguished. In addition, the claws on both hands have become super-heated due to being scorched by the flames of his body, so the opponents that he tears up receive the double damage of being both lacerated and burned," the Digital Analyzer explained the flame type digimon.

"Reptiledramon is a cyborg Digimon. Due to his high athletic ability, he needs heavy chrome Digizoid to slow himself down. Its special attack is 'Ambush Crunch" where he pounces at the enemy to crush with his sharp teeth," the Digital Analyzer explained the other digimon.

"Oh fucker!" Yumi shrieked.

"Everyone, wake up!" Yumi screamed as loud as she possibly could.

In the bedroom Victoria and Yukito were the first to wake up in a daze. Victoria's eyes were still blurred as she looked down to Yumi's bed to see that it was empty.

"Oh shit! Guys, we have a problem!" Victoria called out.

Back in the hall, both Reptiledramon and Flarerizamon advanced upon Yumi who now felt completely trapped.

"How come your after us?" Yumi asked.

"The children must be destroyed," Reptiledramon said.

"What did I do to you to cause this?"

"Because I command it!" replied a cold voice.

Yumi turned her attention toward the railing that seemed to be the only escape to see a digimon fully-clad in black leather, with large arms and wings, and two long horns. Yumi stared at him in awe and fear.

"Who are you?!" Yumi demanded her fear leaving her replaced my courage and determination.

"I am Devimon, ultimate ruler of the demon underworld! You mere child are worthless to me. You have no true power again the likes of me! I have no more use of this imaginary building."

The entire hotel building began to disintegrate away becoming an old ruin. Yumi stood there in shock.

Back in the room Victoria was now wide awake with Renamon kneeling on the end of the bed both sensing what was around them. Kiva and Puppymon were also awake along with Yukito and Penguinmon.

"Everyone, get up this instant, we have massive issues here!" Victoria commanded ready to jump from the bed and run to her friend. But before she could move Devimon waved his hand causing all the beds to float up into the sky. Yumi watched in horror to see her friends high in the sky.

"Together you are strong. I will use my Touch of Evil to scatter all of you throughout the Digiworld!" Devimon said. "Seeing that you hold no threat I shall have you destroyed now!"

"I shall destroy her!" Reptiledramon sneered advancing toward her.

"NO! Yumi!" Victoria screamed, seeing that her friend was defenceless. "Renamon, we have to help her!"

"I don't think I can help her from up here, even if I jump, there is no way I could get back to you!"

"I don't care, she needs you more than I need you right now. Please go to her!" Victoria demanded impatiently.

'_Puppymon, you need to digivolve to help Yumi.'_

"I can't, I don't have the strength in me."

Kiva looked at her digimon in shock. This could not be happening.

Renamon jumped from Victoria's bed landing directly in front of Yumi in a protective manor. She was not about to allow Reptiledramon to go near her.

"Ambush crunch!" Reptiledramon shouted charging at Renamon and Yumi.

"Yumi, run!" commanded Renamon.

"I don't think so. I am not about to leave you behind to fight him!"

"Yumi, you'll be killed in the process. Go!"

Yumi looked up at her friend's partner searching her icy blue feral eyes for some answers. When Reptiledramon got closer, Renamon finally had to push Yumi out of the way to keep her safe.

Yumi fell to the ground lying on her side. Looking up she could see Flarerizamon advancing upon her.

"Flame tower!" Flarerizamon shouted. He released an enormous pillar of flames from his body shooting them toward Yumi completely trapping Yumi in flames.

"HELP ME!" Yumi screamed.

For the first time in her life Yumi felt terrified. Devimon was right, she was worthless. There was no way she could fight her own battles, she was not as strong as Kiva or as determined as the others. She didn't know how many times she yearned to find her digimon to be stronger. It was like dealing with her mom all over again, being told over and over that she was worthless, and a mistake.

"Diamond storm!" Renamon called out sending out the razor-sharp shards toward Flarerizamon. They made impact almost immediately knocking him to the ground. Renamon jumped into the circle of flames kneeling beside Yumi.

"Are you all right?" Renamon asked.

"Define all right."

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Renamon said picking Yumi. Seconds later Renamon jumped out of the flames landing safely on the ground. Yumi looked into the sky to see that the beds were now floating further away from her.

Renamon looked around at her surroundings to see that the island was broken up and a collection of black gears seemed to be shown. Flarerizamon and Reptiledramon were slowly advancing on the two with Devimon watching with amusement from a safe distance.

"Yumi, we have to move!" Renamon urged grabbing her arm and pulling her to the edge of the cliff. With no arguments, Renamon held on to Yumi's waist as she jumped into the air hopefully landing somewhere safe.

A single island came close underneath them causing them to drift away. Yumi looked at the disappearing island they once occupied. She became heart broken and distant. Renamon knew better than to ask her what was wrong, her body language was all she needed to see.

'_What are we going to do now?'_ Yumi thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around her legs.


	9. Snow trouble

**A/N: Hey, once again sorry for the total wait of time for this story. Well here is chapter nine, I was going to have two chapter intertwined, but thought against it. So I decided to cut this in two. Hopefully everyone likes this. Oh before I forget, thank you San Child of the wolves for reminding me, Yumi's location dot it purple. So if anyone asks there it is. A big thank you to San Child of the Wolves and ProtogirlT for reviewing. Chapter ten coming up soon. Trust me.**

Chapter nine

Snow trouble

Mark and Gaomon help on to the bedpost for dear life as it began to nose dive into a snowy world below. Fear filled both of them as the land came ever closer.

"Oh my god, we're goners!" screamed Mark as the land got closer.

"Heads up!" yelled Gaomon preparing for impact.

The bed made contact with the snow in seconds knocking Mark into the frigid cold. Gaomon, who was still safely on the bed jumped off rushing to Mark's side.

"Are you all right?" Gaomon asked concerned helping Mark up to his feet.

"Never again do I want to go on that ride," Mark said shaking his head allowing the snow to fall to the ground.

"At least your safe. We better find your shirt before you freeze to death," Gaomon insisted indicating to Mark's bare torso. He still wore his pants but that was it.

"Hey, any idea where my stuff is anyway?" Mark asked looking around noticing that a blizzard picked up.

The bed didn't seem to be in view any more. The darkness and blizzard didn't help matters for searching. That was the last place he put his belongings. Getting to his feet Mark and Gaomon made their way back to hopefully where the bed was.

"You've got me. Come on Mark, your lips are already turning blue."

Mark wrapped his arms around himself trying to keep most of body heat inside. His teeth chattered as he crouched low. Gaomon went to his side and placed his arm around Mark's back, the other around his front keeping him stable.

"Keep moving Mark, I won't be able to digivolve to help you."

Mark allowed Gaomon to push him forward. The warmth from his fur was keeping him warm somewhat. But with each step, Mark could feel his body slowly start to slow down.

"I can't keep moving Gaomon, I need to rest," Mark shivered.

"Yes you can, just keep your mind occupied on something."

"Yes, you're right. I need to keep my mind on Kisho."

"Good, just remember that you need to keep your strength up to find him."

Mark nodded his head refusing to give up now. He had a bit of a better determination now.

Within seconds Gaomon and Mark returned to the bed. Mark grabbed his black tank top and put it on. He already knew that is wasn't going to fully keep his body warm, just his torso.

"Too bad you didn't have anything longer on you."

"I completely agree with you. God I can't feel my arms."

"I see a cave up a head, you need to rest. I'm sure we can build a fire inside."

The two made their way toward the cave, Mark yearned to search for his brother to make sure that he was all right. But he knew Gaomon was right, he needed rest.

"You're worried about your brother aren't you?" Gaomon asked obviously once in the cave.

"Deeply, I just wished that we fell in the same place," Mark answered solemnly watching Gaomon start a fire.

"Have you ever allowed him to be on his own?" Gaomon asked.

"He's my little brother, I could never…" Mark replied sort of avoiding the question.

"Have you ever allowed him to breathe on his own without you overshadowing him?"

Mark looked down at Gaomon stunned, he almost wasn't sure any more if ever allowed Kisho his space. While growing up Mark felt like he had a responsibility to watch over Kisho constantly. There were times when Kisho would get angry with him for breathing down his neck.

"No, not even once. Well unless he was at school."

"Maybe it's time you allowed his space. I understand he's your brother. I know you are worried about him and want to find him, which I recommend, but don't overshadow, but don't ignore him either."

"Your right, you are absolutely right."

Mark sat in front of the fire, the warmth of the flames started to bring back the heat he lost.

"_Kisho, wherever you are, be safe for me, please."_

Further away, James and Bearmon collided into the snow just after Mark and Gaomon collided into the snow. Already, James had clothes back on, ready for the exploration of the new island.

"Do you think any of the others landed here?"

"I hope so, I don't want to be here on my own. Side from you, I am very appreciative of have you here," James replied quickly covering his mistake he almost made.

"Good to hear."

"God, it's freezing. Stupid me for not bringing a sweater."

"Let's keep walking, that way you can stay warm."

James nodded his head in agreement as the two trekked through the snowy field. The blizzard was not letting up for one second making walking difficult. James was becoming annoyed that the weather wasn't ceasing to let up, how difficult it was to find the others, and how much he loathed Devimon for separating them.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" James called.

Silence.

"Anybody?!"

More silence.

"Do you think they can hear us through the storm?"

"I don't know, I hope so. Mark! Yukito! Robert! Anybody!"

A soft beeping could be heard from inside his pants pockets. James raised an eyebrow as he tried to figure out where the beeping was coming from.

"I think it's your digivice," Bearmon informed.

"Maybe someone is close by," James declared excitedly taking it out.

A single dark grey dot appeared on the screen along with an amber dot. James observed it a little more trying to figure out whose dot it belonged to.

"Bearmon, do you remember who had the grey dot?"

"I remember Robert saying Mark had it."

"Excellent. At least we found one friend."

James and Bearmon made their way through the snowy field. James could no longer feel his arms at all. This was not the way he planned on spending his night. He rather of been warm in bed safe at the mansion, but no, Devimon just had to ruin everything.

A low growl could be heard from somewhere behind the two. James stopped in his tracks, horror filled his face as he looked down at Bearmon.

"Please tell me that was your stomach, because I know that wasn't mine."

"Sorry James, it wasn't me."

"Then if it wasn't you? And it wasn't me? Then who?"

Turning around they saw a large blue wolf staring at them teeth bared ready to pounce at James and Bearmon.

"RUN!" screamed James grabbing Bearmon's arm without giving Bearmon the chance and explain the digimon or to resort to fighting. The two ran away terrified.

"We're never going to out run him, he's way too fast," Bearmon said watching the creature gain on them.

"Stop looking on the dark side!" James accused.

The giant wolf creature continued to chase after them gaining more speed. James, too terrified to stop and fight, continued to head into the forest where Mark's bed crashed moments ago.

"I'm really starting to hate my life," James yelled turning sharply hoping to get away from the wolf.

"Up ahead, I see a cave."

"Protection, oh thank god."

Continuing his way toward the cave, James' spirits rose at the thought of being safe from the creature and actually warm up from the storm. Nearing the entrance James released Bearmon's paw allowing him to attack the wolf to keep him away from the only sanctuary they had.

"Bear claw!"

"Howling blaster!"

Bearmon quickly dodged the attack knowing that his attack wouldn't affect this digimon at all. Fear filled James as he watched Bearmon continue to attack.

"Bearmon, give it up!"

"No, not until he's gone!"

The light from James' digivice started to go off causing Bearmon to digivolve.

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

The blue wolf growled threateningly at the new threat. Grizzlymon let out a low roar letting the mysterious creature to back off. There was a death stare between the two and neither were determined to give up.

"I don't know why you are acting this way, we haven't done anything to you buddy. Maul attack!" Grizzlymon roared clamping down on the creatures back with its teeth.

The wolf let out a howl of pain as Grizzlymon refused to release. James watched in horror as Grizzlymon shook the wolf in its mouth.

"Grizzlymon, enough!" commanded James, panic and hurt in his voice.

Grizzlymon looked over at James before swinging his head and releasing the wolf aiming it back toward the forest. Grizzlymon dedigivolved back to Bearmon and ran over to James.

"James, what's the matter? Why did you have me stop?"

"I didn't want you to become a killer. He doesn't deserve to die. Yes, we were threatened by him but he doesn't deserve that punishment."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how far I had gone."

James looked into Bearmon's eyes seeing the apologetic look his friend was giving him. James smiled a bit he shook his head letting the memory go.

"Don't worry about it buddy, I suggest we go inside and get warm."

Entering the cave, both could see a fire already built. A human lay close, the body seemed to have become warm from the heat. A blue digimon with it's back toward James and Bearmon, stared at the fire.

"Gaomon, is that you?" Bearmon asked.

"Bearmon? James? It's so good to see the two of you. Please come to the fire, you both look like you need the warmth," Gaomon said getting up to greet his friends.

"Thanks Gaomon. How long have you two been here for?"

"Maybe half an hour? I'm not sure. Mark drifted off to sleep only moments ago. Was that the two of you outside?"

"Yeah, we were chased by something. I don't know what exactly it was, all I know it was blue. But we could have been killed. Mind you Grizzlymon was close to killing him in the process," James explained.

"It was the only way to protect you," Bearmon protested.

"And I thank you. I didn't mean to put it in a bad way."

"I forgive."

"Well at least friendships between digimon and partner have been patched up. But for now, be wise for all of us to get some sleep. We need to gain our strength if we want to find our friends tomorrow."

James and Bearmon didn't argue to that suggestion. James lay opposite Mark getting comfortable on the stone floor. Bearmon rested his weary head on James' chest giving James more warmth. Gaomon on the other hand lay on the ground where he sat moments ago.

Hours later the sun rose shining into the caves the blizzard seemed to have stopped outside also. Mark squinted his eyes to the welcoming sunlight. It took him a minute or so to realize where he was. He could remember being sent flying on his bed to a snowy world where he and Gaomon insisted upon going to a cave to rest.

Looking around now, Mark noticed that he was no longer alone, he had company. Looking to the other side of the fire, he could see James and Bearmon resting comfortably on the ground.

"Hey James!" Mark called out.

James didn't stir from his spot. It was as if Mark's voice didn't affect him.

"JAMES!" Mark screamed scaring James, Bearmon and Gaomon out of their sleep.

"What? What did I do?"

"Dude, you are such a heavy sleeper."

"Hey, glad to see you safe man."

"Likewise. You didn't see anyone out there did you?"

"No. Just a strange creature. I couldn't get a good look at him, only that it sounded like a wolf."

"Oh," Mark simply said disappointedly.

"You were hoping to have Kisho out there weren't you?"

Mark looked at James astonished, he didn't know or not if James could tell what was going on. Mark slightly nodded his head without saying any more to the discussion.

"Look, today is a new and clear day, I'm positive we'll find Kisho and the others."

After putting the fire out, Mark, James, Gaomon and Bearmon left the cave and ventured out into the snowy world. It looked like the perfect winter wonderland.

"So where exactly do we look?" Gaomon asked.

"That's a really good question, they could be anywhere," James remarked.

"Kisho! Where are you?" Mark called in hopes that his little brother would call back. He had already stared to wander away from the others.

"Mark what are you doing?" James trying to catch up.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Mark asked suddenly becoming defensive. His protective brother side kicked into high gear. James saw that while Mark was determined to find the others, he needed to locate his brother first thing.

"Kisho! Kisho, answer me!"

"Mark, come on. This place is huge. Do you truly think he is going to be able to hear you? Along respond to the call?"

"I can't just leave him alone out there, what is something bad happened to him?"

"Look, he has Labramon to protect him. Right now I suggest we see just how big this island is and get back to Infinity Mountain."

Mark turned to him, a mixture of feelings filling his eyes. In one way James had a point. Labramon was with Kisho so at least he wasn't totally alone. In another way, exactly how big was this island that the others weren't all close by?

"Mark, you coming?" James called feet away from him.

Mark noticed that he stood in the open field by himself, even Gaomon was with James and Bearmon.

"Hey, thanks for leaving me!" Mark called running up to James and the digimon.

The four continued on their way through the field trying to determine just how big the place truly was. Mark was still determined as ever to find him brother once and for all. But he also knew that there were other things to do besides just him. Gaomon was right, Mark needed to give Kisho space to breathe on his own for a change.

"I know we haven't eaten but whose stomach was that?" James asked dragging Mark out of his thoughts. James stood frozen in his tracks looking around.

"Not mine," Bearmon admitted.

"I can honestly say my stomach doesn't make that loud of a rumble," Gaomon responded.

"Mark, was that you man?" James asked almost pleadingly.

"No, are you sure it wasn't yours?"

"I'm sure," James replied.

"Uh, guys?" Bearmon and Gaomon said in unison. Fear in their voices.

"I don't like that sound," Mark commented fearfully turning to see Bearmon and Gaomon looking straight ahead into a nearby forest where a large blue fur wolf stood with two patches of metal on its back. His teeth bared growling deeply.

"Bearmon who is that?" James asked his voice nearing a squeaking sound.

"That's Garurumon X. He is the protector of the snowy realm. He is usually a calm digimon. But I have this feeling this is the digimon from last night and he's out for revenge."

"Usually?" James asked his voice now extremely squeaky.

"Howling blaster!"

"Down!" Mark yelled knocking James to the ground as the attack hit the mountain behind the group.

"We have to get out of here!" James said once he was able to sit up again.

"Where? This isn't exactly the most protective spot. And you heard Bearmon, he's out for revenge there's no stopping him once that happens. And I'm pretty sure that he could catch up in a heart beat anyway," Mark replied sceptically.

"James do you see what I see?" Bearmon asked.

"What?" Mark, Gaomon and James asked.

"In between the metal plating. There's a black gear!"

"Explains so much."

Garurumon X started to creep closer toward the four causing fear to course through their bodies. He truly looked like a wolf on the hunt.

"Either run or digivolve!" commanded Mark not giving too much option.

"I say run!" James offered preparing to get the hell out of there.

"No, I'm fighting James," Bearmon declared standing his ground.

"I'm with you," Gaomon agreed.

James and Mark looked at each other, their eyes were filled with determination now.

"Then fighting it shall be!" both boys declared holding on to their digivices. The digivices began to activate causing the two digimon to digivolve. It was amazing that two digimon who have not eaten in so long could have the strength to digivolve.

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

Garurumon X saw that he had two better challengers than having to deal with weak Rookies. He stood his ground preparing to fight. Gaogamon and Grizzlymon prepared themselves for an attack from him.

"Freeze Fang!" Garurumon X shouted charging up to Gaogamon and Grizzlymon its teeth bared ready to bite.

Gaogamon jumped into the air dodging to the attack by inches while Grizzlymon dodges to the side. Garurumon X skidded to a halt as he turned to face them.

"Nice work Gaogamon," Mark called.

"Grizzlymon, show him what your made of!" called James.

"Crescent Moon!" Grizzlymon shouted sending off his moon shaped beam toward Garurumon X. It was too late to dodge the attack. He was sent flying back hard against the mountain causing it to crack.

"Awesome work buddy," cheered James.

"Gaogamon, go!"

"Spiral blow!"

Gaogamon sent out a tornado from its mouth aiming toward Garurumon X in such a great force. This time the wolf digimon saw this coming. He dodged it the best could and zigzagged toward Gaogamon at top speed. Jumping into the sky Garurumon X got behind Gaogamon before he even knew what was going on. With the art of surprise Garurumon X sent Gaogamon flying into the mountains after ramming into him with such force.

There was a sickening thud Gaogamon slammed into the mountain. Mark's eyes widened in horror as he witness the horror.

"Gaogamon!"

"Grizzlymon your turn!"

"You aren't playing fair. Crescent Moon!"

The moon beam headed straight for Garurumon X and the black gear. Garurumon X, was far too slow to dodge the attack on time. The beam drove the black gear out of the wolf causing it to shatter.

Garurumon X shook his head trying to clear his mind. Nothing made sense to him of what happened. Grizzlymon continued to gaze at the continuously growing crack in the mountain that was caused from Gaogamon being slammed into after Garurumon X's attack. Since than Gaogamon dedigivolved back to Gaomon and stood with Mark. Many black gears were inside turning together. Once more, Grizzlymon's crescent moon began to glow.

"Crescent Moon!"

All the black gears were instantly destroyed. Grizzlymon smiled approvingly as he dedigivolved back to Bearmon. Electrical sparks could hear from the black gears as they repaired themselves.

"Garurumon, can you tell us if you seen any more humans like them around?" Bearmon asked indicating to Mark and James.

"No, all I know is that these were the only two humans to fall here, but I'm sure there are more on the other islands."

"Kisho must be on the other islands," Mark said excitedly.

"At least we have hope on one thing."

The island was moving back the other way toward Infinity Mountain making the boys happy to be rejoining with the others.


	10. Temple Mayhem

**A/N: Yay chapter ten, told you this chapter would be up soon lol. Okay anyway, hope this one is okay, I kind of got bored and relyed on the show near the end but changed good portion of it again. Thank you to San child of the wolves and ProtogirlT for reviewing, I thought I do that now because I know they've at least read. Hopefully chapter eleven will be up just as quick, I am off this week.**

Chapter ten

Temple mayhem

Another bed made its descent to the earth the same time Mark and James touched down on the other island. Victoria glanced over the bedpost watching the quickening impact. She could feel her stomach lurch as the bed picked up speed. It felt like a roller coaster ride to her with an ugly ending.

"This is going to hurt!" Victoria yelled. "Renamon I wish you were here!"

It didn't take long before the bed slammed into the ground. Victoria was sent flying from the bed after the impact. She landed squarely on her back as she stared at the sky.

"Gods, its arriving here the very first day all over again, just minus my digimon and the knowledge of where my friends are," Victoria groaned understanding more of what Yumi was going through.

Further into the forest another bed collided with the earth, this time without knocking the owner to the ground. Robert held his head as he looked up to get a better idea of where he and Tentomon were.

"I deduce that we are so lost," Robert announced resting on his knees.

"You think? What now?" Tentomon asked in a smartass way.

"I want to explore the island," Robert answered without hesitation.

"Right now? While it's still dark?"

"You becoming a scaredey mon all of sudden?"

"No, I'm just saying why not rest for now and get a head start in the morning?" Tentomon suggested as Robert put his shirt over his head.

"What happens if one of our friends are out there and in need of help?" Robert challenged.

"Robert, I think they'll be fine for a short time."

Robert stared at his digimon trying to understand what he was getting at. In one way Tentomon had a point, he needed the rest. The little sleep they had at the mansion was not helping his thinking capabilities. In another way, Robert was determined to explore the island and get more answers.

"Fine. We'll rest. But first think we are searching this island!"

Back the other way, Victoria threw her other clothes back on, stuffing her pyjamas into her bag. In her hand she held her digivice hoping in some way that she would be able to find a clue of her friends' location. She strolled in the forest determined to find a sturdy tree to sleep in. Although she had her bed, she prefer the security of a high branch to get a better view and stay away from hungry creatures. With her digivice still held out in front of her, Victoria continued to explore the thick forest, not even caring how late it was or dark.

Half way in, Victoria came to a think tall tree with a low branch giving her the ability to climb up easily. Crouching low, Victoria sprang up grabbing on to the branch and hoisted herself up. She continued her way up not caring what dangers might lie ahead.

Once she had enough distance from herself and the ground, Victoria rested her back against the tree and closed her eyes. She needed her rest before searching for her friends in the morning. It worried her that her digivice wasn't activating for her.

Morning soon arrived causing Robert to wake up in great alert. It was time that he started to explore his surroundings. Tentomon who was curled up at the end of the bed didn't seem to realize what was going on.

"Tentomon, come on wake up."

"Five more minutes," mumbled Tentomon.

"TENTOMON!" shouted Robert scaring Tentomon out of his sleep.

"I'm up, I'm up!"

"Come on, let's go exploring."

"You couldn't have waited for another little while could you?"

"Nope."

The two made their way through the forest going in no particular direction. Robert had his mind set upon finding anything that could answer his questions he had about this world. Especially how special the digivice was and what they possessed.

The trees soon thinned out making walking a little more easier for Robert. Past some trees he could see a large temple directly in front of him. His interests soon peaked as he got closer.

"I know you said you wanted to explore but I thought the key reason for the exploration was to find the others."

"As soon as I find out what is in here."

"Oh great, we're never going to find the others," Tentomon moaned following Robert.

Meanwhile, Victoria began to stir from her sleep on the branch as the sun shone down on her.

"Irritating sun," muttered Victoria as she stretched her arms toward the sky.

Picking up the digivice she stared at the blank screen almost hoping to see a flicker, something to know how her friends were. But there was nothing. No beeps. With a groan of annoyance, Victoria put it back into her bag as she put the bag over her shoulder before climbing down the tree. It would have been so much simpler to have Renamon there to have her help her down.

"Yumi, you better be safe wherever you are. I'll not be a happy camper if I find out you're hurt."

On the ground, Victoria blindly trekked through the forest hoping, praying to find Kiva or Yumi around. She need to get back with the sanity of her group and not be subsequently be on her own.

"Yumi! Kiva! Where are you two?" Victoria called.

There was no response whatsoever.

In one way, Victoria almost expected the silence, but in another way she was hoping to get something. Dragging her feet now Victoria continued her way through the forest. Her stomach was not helping matters as it continued to growl for the taste of food.

"Look you. Once we find the others, we'll eat, until then, shut up!" Victoria commanded angrily.

Inside the temple Robert and Tentomon entered the labyrinth main room, it looked like nature decided to over take the old ruins. A single black gear sat in the side of the room spinning. Robert raised his eye brow as he made his way over to it.

"Looks like one of Devimon's black gears," Robert noted.

"I can see that," Tentomon replied. He sounded just like Yukito did when he got annoyed.

"Maybe if we could keep this from turning, we could completely jam that creep up," Robert replied ignoring Tentomon's smart ass comment.

"I have a better idea Robert. Let's don't and say we did. That can save up time to go find the others."

"Not so fast Tentomon, look at this. Its that exact same writing from the factory," Robert remarked staring at the markings.

"I'm sure I have the data stored on my hard drive," Robert replied absentmindedly.

Tentomon let out a groan as he landed on the ground in defeat watching Robert take out his laptop and tempting to turn it out. Looking around, Robert found an outlet to charge his laptop. Robert wouldn't listen to reason unless it was spelt out in ancient markings. While Tentomon sat there Robert's digivice began to beep. A single midnight blue dot appeared to be heading their way. Through the forest, Victoria continued to climb over fallen branches and random rocks on the ground. As much as she loved the forests, Victoria was loathing this one right now, the only good thing about this forest there was no weird signs.

"Black dot, purple got. Which dot will appear?" Victoria thought staring at the device.

Almost as if hearing her thoughts, a brown dot began to appear on the screen. Victoria raised an eyebrow in confusion. Which one did this belong to? As the brown dot continued to beep an amber dot appeared. It seemed it went from sitting to pacing.

"I don't care who this it, it's someone," Victoria signed heading closer to the dot.

Closer and closer she got to the location of the dot itself, she came across ancient ruins making her breath caught in her throat. It reminded her of many areas in the real world that highly amazed her, especially like the Mayans.

"Nice," breathed Victoria staring up in wonder at the grandeur of the place. "Whomever owns the brown dot better be on of the good ones."

Victoria made her way inside eager to see someone. In her mind she yearned to see Yukito's face, out of all the other campers, he was the only one she could deal with.

Inside, Tentomon continued to fly back and forth behind Robert starting at the midnight blue dot that appeared to be heading toward them.

"Robert, I believe one of our friends have found us,"

"Not now Tentomon, I think I've figured out the code," Robert said absentmindedly.

"Thanks, so I guess I'm not important huh?" Victoria scoffed at the door way.

"Victoria, good to see you. But where is Renamon?" Tentomon asked.

"With Yumi, I asked her to protect her."

Victoria looked around the room they conveniently occupied at the moment. There didn't seem to be any sign of the others though. Looking down, it also seemed that Robert was in no mood to move from his spot.

"So, where are the others?" Victoria asked.

"Don't know," Robert simply replied continuing to type.

"Have you even tried to search for them?" Victoria asked standing in front of him now.

"I've been busy deciphering these symbols."

"You're unbelievable, do you know that? All you care about is your bloody computer and nothing else," Victoria fumed furiously threatening to step on the computer.

"These symbols will probably help us figure out what is going on and why we're here," Robert countered finally looking up to her face.

"I don't know how Yukito puts up with you! Yumi was lucky enough to hold her tongue when she went with you, because I can assure you she had a few words to discuss with you."

Robert didn't say any more to Victoria. Anger began to boil over inside her. Robert wasn't caring about their friends, he rather be a bump on a log. Victoria rolled her eyes as she let out an exasperated sigh.

"You know what? Fine. You wasn't to sit here and play on your computer, be my guest. I'm going to look around this labyrinth in hopes of finding someone. You know what colour my got I am, so if it looks like I'm in danger, don't be afraid to lend a hand."

Victoria stalked off in a huff leaving behind an uncaring Robert and a worried Tentomon.

"Shouldn't you go after her?" Tentomon asked.

"I am almost close to solving this," Robert answered not paying attention.

Tentomon's words didn't seem to ever register in Robert's ears right away. It wasn't until Robert finally solved the puzzle that he finally looked up to see that he was alone.

"Tentomon? Victoria?" called Robert.

There was no response from either of them. Robert felt a pang of hurt for being left alone. He curse himself for not listening to them when they were talking. But he was just too stubborn. Staring back at the screen, a maze could be seen indicating a map of the ancient ruins.

Somewhere inside the maze, Victoria strolled down each corridor making a mental note of the walls and ground to make sure she didn't go in a big circle.

"Do you have any clue as to where you are going?" Tentomon asked hovering above her head.

"No, not at all," Victoria responded continuing her way uncaring.

"Maybe we should turn around and go back."

"Tentomon, you didn't have to follow me you know. You were safer with Robert. Although close to a mental break down, but at least safe."

"Well I feel that I have to protect you seeing that you are minus a digimon."

"Thank you for being concerned, but I can…I swear to the gods we passed this spot three times already."

"We're lost."

"Shut up. Look I'm sure we can easily locate an exit somewhere. You can't digivolve into your champion form can you?"

"Not without Robert with me."

"Damn," Victoria cursed searching her bag for her digivice.

"What are you doing?"

"I have a theory. If I was able to use my digivice to find the two of you, whose to say I couldn't do it again. Hopefully it works in this messed up maze."

Victoria held out her digivice in one direction hoping to find a beep. There was nothing down the one area. Turning around she prayed for a sign. It was one thing to be on her own, it was another to be lost in a maze unaware of her surroundings and a digimon unable to digivolve.

"Damn it. Robert where are you?!" Victoria yelled frustrated.

Back in the main room Robert managed to locate Victoria's midnight blue dot on the screen. It was somewhere deep in the maze. As he stared at it for a moment he could see that it was pacing like crazy.

"Victoria is losing it," Robert sighed finally putting on an earpiece. "This better work. Tori can you hear me?"

"Don't call me Tori. Wait a minute, where are you?"

"Good you can hear me. I'm still in the main room, good news though. I pinpointed your location. Bear with me for a minute because you could find yourself turned around after all that pacing."

"You saw that?"

"Yes. Now listen to me, you are in the middle of the corridor. There is a long way and a short way that turns a corner, you want to take the long way. Follow that until you come across a break in the wall to the left. Turn down and go straight, I'll give more directions from there."

Victoria rolled her eyes as she continued down the corridor with Tentomon following beside her. He could sense her frustration building up inside, taking the hint, he kept his distance from her, refusing to say anything worried her might snap at him.

"Okay Robert, where am I going?" Victoria asked folding her arms in front of her, she was already half way into the second corridor.

"Go through the door into the next room, be warned there is a hole in the ground."

"Thanks for the advice," Victoria said as she entered the room. At first glance the floor seemed to be in tact, but when she went to step on it, the ground crumbled away. "All right Robert, now what?"

"There is a ledge on the sides take that to get safely across."

Victoria took a deep breath as she made her way across the narrow path. She wasn't terrified of heights, but falling to her death was not something she wanted to do in an unknown place. Finally getting across, Victoria stood there patiently waiting for more instructions.

"Okay Robert, I'm waiting here."

"Um…" Robert said. Something in his voice made Victoria worry.

"Robert? Talk to me."

Robert still sat at the computer staring horror struck, from where the midnight blue dot and amber dot blinked, a red dot came into view heading their way at top speed.

"Robert? You're freaking me out."

"Go straight. Don't walk, run! There's something behind you!" Robert said, his voice shaky.

"What is it?" Victoria asked, her voice slowly changing to panic.

"I don't know…just run its coming your way."

"Oh shit!" Victoria gasped running down the corridor after hearing footsteps behind her.

Tentomon flew as fast as he could to keep up with Victoria who was running like a bat out of hell. She was not going to slow down for anything. Her breathing was abnormal as she neared the end of the corridor.

"Look we're almost out of here!" yelled Tentomon as the footsteps came closer.

"Robert, please tell me this is the ay out!" shouted Victoria.

"Yes, just keep going straight."

Victoria could see a light near the end of the corridor, something about this place was definitely a good sign to her.

"Tentomon, come on, we're home free!" Victoria said taking hold of Tentomon's claw and pulling him further.

The two of them finally made it back to the main room where Robert was beginning to stand up. Tentomon flew straight toward him concerned. Victoria could tell there was something wrong, his body language was screaming terror. She stopped halfway seeing Robert's eyes widened making a shiver run through her veins.

"Robert, what's the matter?" Tentomon asked.

"Victoria, get down!" commanded Robert.

Victoria raised an eyebrow as she turned to face what Robert was staring at. There standing feet from her was a large four legged creature with the body of a horse and torso of a man.

"Centarumon, half man, half horse, you really don't wanna get on wither of his bad sides."

"Holy shit!"

"Solar ray!"

Centarumon held out is hand, four knives appear from his palm causing a beam of light began to emerge aiming it straight for Victoria. Her body froze up in fear, she was doomed and her digimon was MIA.

"Victoria!" shouted Robert.

Tentomon flew toward her and the digimon. In seconds he began to digivolve to his champion form.

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Solar Ray!"

"Electro shocker!"

Both energies headed straight for each digimon. It knocked Centarumon off its feet causing Victoria to jump out of the way narrowly missing the attack, while Kabuterimon lifted into the air..

"Thank you Robert."

"Look out, he's ready to attack again!" Robert yelled seeing that Centarumon was getting to his feet.

"Shit!"

"Kabuterimon end this!"

"You got it. You messed with the wrong digimon pal. Electro shocker!"

"Solar ray!"

Both attacks met in the middle cancelling each other out. Victoria and Robert ducked for cover afraid for impact. When both looked up they could see Kabuterimon flying above Centarumon. Of course Centarumon was not amused by this.

Victoria looked around at the walls to see that the attacks were taking a number on the walls. Already a hole was made beside the doorway.

Centarumon sent out the blast again sending Victoria, Robert and Kabuterimon flying outside. Victoria slammed on the ground hard. She forced herself to her knees, looking to her left she could see Robert getting to his feet.

"Come on Kabuterimon, you can do it!"

"Electro shocker!"

Before Centarumon could actually defend himself the attack struck the black gear completely destroying it. For a moment the other digimon stood there not realizing what happened till her dropped to his knees in exhaustion.

"Way to go Kabuterimon!" Robert cheered heading over to his digimon who dedigivolved back to Tentomon.

"That was a close call," admitted Victoria.

"Are you all right Victoria?"

"Yeah, thanks. You didn't have to do that you know."

"What were we suppose to do? Let him finish you off?"

"Quite possibly," Victoria replied her voice now flat and solemn.

Robert shook his head concerned. There was much that he didn't know about, and there were other things where he was quite clear on and feared for her safety.

"What happened?" groaned Centarumon confused.

"Please tell me you're a good digimon."

"Where did you get that device?"

He was pointing to the digivice located on the strap of Victoria's bag. Victoria followed his gaze and took the device into her hand gazing at it.

"Could you perhaps tell us what they are?"

"Come with me."

Robert, Victoria and Tentomon followed Centarumon in the maze again to a room where a digivice insignia appeared on the wall.

"It is a mystical symbol of the digivice. These ruins are its temple and I am its guardian. The digivice is a preserver of the light, the last line of defence against the darkness that threatens existence." "At least we've found out how else they can be used," Victoria mused. "Gods, why can't Yumi's signal go off already?"

Behind them Reptiledramon crept in careful not to make a noise. He was determined to finish off the two digidestined.

"Something doesn't seem right in here," Tentomon said.

"What do you mean Tentomon?" Robert asked.

Victoria finally turned around to see Reptiledramon standing there. Immediately Centarumon jumped in front of the two children protecting them.

"Stay away from them Reptiledramon, I warn you!"

"Don't think you can hurt my Centarumon, you can't protect them."

Reptiledramon jumped into the air aiming for Centarumon, his mouth opened ready to attack. Centarumon jumped out of the way knowing that this digimon would kill him in a heartbeat. Reptiledramon lowered himself preparing to pounce again.

"Ambush crush!"

Centarumon held out its arm while Reptiledramon clamped down on the metal arm. Both digimon stayed in that position for quite some time.

"Holy crap."

"I think time is standing still."

"You think?"

"As the guardian of this temple I must protect them as well."

"You can't protect them from me."

Reptiledramon finally released his grip preparing for another attack. Centarumon prepared for the attack, but wasn't going to be able to defend himself for long.

"The children will die."

"I repeat this again. Holy shit!"

Victoria put up her arms in front of her protecting herself. Her digivice that was still in her hand began to glow. Somehow it stopped the digimon in its tracks.

"Victoria, your digivice, it stopped him in his tracks."

Robert pointed his own digivice at Reptiledramon. Victoria dropped her arms from her face and raised her digivice toward the other digimon.

"Get the hell out here you crazed ass dragon."

The light from the devices send Reptiledramon out of the room. Victoria had a satisfied smile on her face. Everyone headed back into the main room. Victoria leaned against the wall with Tentomon hovering above her. Robert was in a discussion with Centarumon.

"Centarumon, do you know how to stop the black gear?"

"Afraid not. I have neither the strength nor the knowledge oppose Devimon and the powers of darkness."

Robert let out a sigh of disappointment as he went back to his laptop. Victoria looked over at him frustrated.

"You're still going on about that? Your pathetic."

"I'm sure if I keep up with all this, I can get all the answers from these hieroglyphs."

"No, you have to be joking me. Your going back to this yet again? Dude, our friends are out there somewhere. I'm sure Yukito is just as worried about you. Why can't you be like that?"

"Just give me a minute." Victoria headed for the spinning black gear. Anger filled her up as she stared at it. Seeing as this was the only way to get out her anger, Victoria gave it a swift kick. The black gear stopped for a second than started to reverse.

"Damn straight. This is why you don't mess with a girl." Robert, Victoria and Tentomon ran outside to the edge of the island facing the water seeing that it was heading back to File Island.

"Hopefully this will bring us back to the others," Victoria sighed.


	11. Test of differences and Silence is bliss

**A/N: Wow, another long wait for another chapter, god I'm slow lol. No but in all seriousness though chapter eleven is finally up and ready to go. I hope it is all right. It's a little bit longer than the other two chapters. Just to clearify things on this chapter, the cemetary and forest thing I got from a dream so its a little sketchy along with Illusiomon, long story on that one. I actually had fun with this going back and forth between Yumi and Renamon's point of view to Tora and Lalamon to Wizardmon to Kiva and Puppymon. Yeah I wanted to bring Wizardmon back. A big thank you goes out to San Child of the Wolves, ProtogirlT and White Hunter for reviewing. Hope to see more reviews on this. Chapter twelve might be a while having major writers block.**

Chapter 11

Test of differences and Silence is bliss

The water remained the same, calm, with little waves. Yumi continued to stare off into space on the edge of the rock lying on her stomach they were doomed upon. Renamon kept her distance from Yumi understanding her need for space. At the very moment both had the same thing on their minds, find Victoria and the others.

"Think we'll ever find them?" asked Yumi without looking back.

"We will, it's all in the matter of time. Maybe you should rest, or at least get something in you," Renamon suggested.

"Not hungry, not tired. Worried beyond belief."

"The good thing right now, you're conserving your energy."

"Far too much if you ask me."

Yumi refused on many levels to look on the bright side. All her emotions drained from her body refusing to return. Renamon of course was worried about Yumi, if she kept this up, the more she was likely to refuse searching.

From her pot on the high rock, Renamon looked down at her paw where Yumi's digivice sat blank. No hint of life or chances of finding anyone. She let out a sigh as she raised her head to stare at their surroundings of water.

"What would it take to cheer you up?"

"To be with my friends. I'm not trying to be a downer to you, but I prefer if Victoria and Kiva were also here, I think they are the only two to keep me balanced in life."

"I assure you Yumi, we'll be back with the others soon, just as soon as we find land."

"Couldn't we just swim?"

"Too far. Besides we have no idea what to expect in the water."

"Remind me to personally thank Devimon for this personal hell here. This is why I wish I could have had my digimon with me, less problem and I can be of some use," grumbled Yumi throwing a stone into the water.

"Your not useless. With or without a digimon you hold more potential than most of the others."

"How so?" challenged Yumi, now sitting up as Renamon tossed her digivice back to her.

"You quick and smart," replied Renamon, but apparently it didn't impress Yumi.

"Please tell there's more."

"You have a strong mind, your not one to back down from fights. Whatever that pendent holds it gives you that strength," Renamon pointed out as Yumi's hand clasped over the wolf.

Yumi sighed as she leaned back to stare up at the starry sky. There was great potential in everyone and she still needed to find it, she knew it but refused to accept it. But as she stared at the stars something crossed her mind that didn't feel right to her.

"Renamon, ever have that feeling that…"

"Shh…something's up ahead."

Something in Renamon's voice made Yumi worry, Renamon was already at her side in instant protect mode. Yumi moved to her front to push herself up on to her knees. Yumi's brows furrowed as she stared at the water. A crate randomly floated in the water. Was Renamon seriously worried about a crate?

"Renamon, it's only a crate. Probably filled with food."

"No. Something doesn't seem right."

"You're freaking me out Renamon. Tell me what you see."

"More like sense. There's something in the crate."

"Like what?"

As Yumi uttered those words her digivice began to go off. Taking the digivice into her hand, a red dot appeared on the screen dead in front of them.

"Red is bad isn't it?"

"Very."

"What do we do?"

"Attack it. Diamond storm!"

Diamond shared aimed straight for the crate destroying it. A fiery digimon emerged looking pissed as it jumped into the air.

"Oh shit! Flarerizamon!"

"Looky looky, a defenceless human," Flarerizamon taunted landing on the rock.

"Not defenceless, she has me!" Renamon said standing in front of Yumi. Yumi stood in a fighting stance while Renamon stood perfectly straight.

"Take your best shot!"

"Gladly! Diamond storm!"

"Fire storm!"

The diamond shards were instantly disintegrated by the flame. The flame itself continued to make its way toward Renamon and Yumi.

'_I need to digivolve to protect her, but not without Victoria. What am I going to do?' _pondered Renamon.

"Renamon any suggestions? Kind of freaking out right now!" Yumi said seeing the flames getting closer.

"Trust me," Renamon simply said.

"What?" Yumi asked confused.

"Just trust me!"

Yumi said nothing else only allowing Renamon to build a plan. She watched as Renamon disappeared for a second and reappeared behind her. Yumi could feel Renamon wrap her arms around her waist. Within seconds both disappeared from sight leaving Flarerizamon standing there.

"Come back you cowards!" he screamed. "Surrounded by water. What did I do to deserve this?"

On an island not far from where Yumi and Renamon narrowly escaped danger, Tora and Lalamon were sitting close to the ocean staring into the distance. Tora had her knees brought to her chest. She was deep in through, unmoving by what was around her, even Lalamon couldn't bring her out of her zone.

"Everyone is probably all together now," Tora said after a few minutes. "They're probably not ever looking for me."

"Tora they are your friends, of course they are coming to look for you. You can't always look on the bad side of life. I'm sure right now one of them is looking for you."

"I doubt Kiva, Victoria or Yumi are. I'm pretty sure the three of them are ready to kill me because I know Kiva is."

"I'm sure she'll forgive you in time."

"Yeah, good luck on that."

Still sitting in her regular spot, Tora went back to her own world. Although she seemed to be spaced, she could still see something above the water. One of them was yellow with a long bushy tail and ears while the other seemed to have black hair pulled in a ponytail. When they appeared in seconds they soon disappeared.

"What was that?!" exclaimed Tora getting to her feet.

"You saw it too?" Lalamon asked.

"One of them looked to be Renamon. I think the others could be Victoria."

"I don't see them anymore. Where could they have gone?"

"Under water. I'm not sure how strong swimmers the two are."

Tora scanned the area around her for anything to use to help them out. So far the selections were minimal. She desperately wanted to find a branch and some rope to make a fishing pole but knew it was not going to happen.

Lalamon floated around her hoping to find something of use. Any of her attacks could never be used for rescuing someone. If she could digivolve into Sunflowmon there might be a chance of helping but in Tora's panic state there was no possible way of thinking clearly.

"Oh god what are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Tora asked in shock.

As much as the trio didn't get along with anyone especially her, Tora still worried about their safety no matter what, even if she never shown it.

Far off in the dense forest, Kiva and Puppymon strolled through the trees wandering in no place in particular. Ever since crashing and changing, Kiva refused to sit still and rest. Her energy was built up to the max and the only thing coming to mind was explore the new place. In her mind she desperately hoped that Yumi and Victoria would be all right. She wanted to search for them, but who was to say that the two were even close by.

"Where do yo think we are?" Puppymon asked cutting into Kiva's thoughts.

'_Secluded, that's it. And really I don't give a shit. This is my type of place to be in the long run,' _Kiva responded. "Have you checked your digivice to see if anyone was around?"

"No, I don't wish to ruin the moment."

"Even if the chances of Yumi and Victoria being on the island with you is possible?"

"Trust me, I want to find them, but there is an unlikely chance that they would end up here."

There was no arguing with her at all. Once her mind was set on something it was set. Puppymon knew not to keep asking questions or suggest finding the others.

'_Wonder what this island holds?'_ wondered Kiva as she continued her trek.

"I couldn't tell you."

Near the end of the forest away from Tora and Kiva was Wizardmon holding a black bag. He had found the bag when Devimon split the island. Now he must return it to Yumi without being seen. It killed him that he could not be with her, but he needed to wait, he needed to be patient.

"I promise Yumi when the time comes, you'll understand why I had to do this," Wizardmon whispered to no one in particular as he looked up at the sky.

Back in the water, Renamon was the first to emerge from the water coughing and spluttering. Yumi was the next to appear, but her body seemed to be on the weaker side than Renamon's. As much as she was a strong swimmer, the full submerge into the water with no warning caused her body to weaken

"Yumi, you all right?" Renamon asked.

"I think so, more water logged than normal," Yumi responded before a coughing fit took over again.

Renamon began to get worried when Yumi couldn't catch her breath and began to panic. Renamon needed to take Yumi to shore so she could catch her breath and be free of the panic that over took her body.

Yumi could not catch her breath for anything. Her lungs felt as if more water were filling them up. Her throat soon felt like it was closing to the point where her breath came out shallow and sounded like wheezing.

"Hold on Yumi, I'm getting you to shore," Renamon said wrapping her left arm around Yumi's waist as she dragged her through the water and toward the shore using only her right arm and legs.

Yumi still tried desperately to catch her breath, but it still came out all shallow. Tears formed in her eyes from all the coughing and the close calls of no air being allowed in.

On the shore Tora was still going crazy trying desperately to locate anything that could be used to help them out of the water.

"Tora, Renamon and Victoria are far too out for to even reach them and the current is far too strong for the jump in and rescue. Maybe I could digivolve and save them that way."

"That does sound like good news, but Lalamon one problem. There's probably no way you could bring them back safely without being dragged down yourself."

"I guess your right. But we'll never know unless we try. Please they are your friends," Lalamon pleaded.

"There's no other choice is there?"

"Nope." "All right, go for it."

"Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon."

Wasting no time, Sunflowmon made her way into the ocean hoping somehow to find her friends, preferably safe and unharmed. There was no way of knowing the two were still breathing.

"Renamon? Victoria? Can you hear me?" Sunflowmon called out.

There was no response, only the silence of the night. Sunflowmon hoped that she would spot them soon.

"Renamon?!"

Renamon who now held on to an unconscious Yumi, continued to make her way back to the shore. She knew how desperately Yumi needed out of the water, but it would be a miracle to reach it on time.

"Renamon?!" a voice called out.

At first Renamon thought it was Yumi trying to wake up. Looking down Renamon could see that Yumi was still out.

"Renamon?!" Where are you??!" called the voice again a little louder.

"I'm over here!" Renamon called out. She stopped now hoping some how that she would be spotted.

"Renamon!"

"Where are you?" Renamon called out.

Silence came in for a moment making Renamon worried that no one heard her call. She treaded water a little bit longer hoping whoever was calling would call back or at least spot her.

Yumi still wasn't stirring from her spot on her back.

"Yumi, you have to wake up soon, please wake up. Someone please find us, there is no way I can move her any further," Renamon silently pleaded.

"Renamon, look up!" the voice called back again.

Renamon looked up to see Sunflowmon floating a couple of feet above the water. Renamon nodded her head in gratitude of the rescue.

"Do you think you'll be able to take both of us back to land?" Renamon asked indicating to Yumi still floating on her back.

"I'll try. How come you can't teleport to the land yourself?"

"Water logged and senses are on the whack," Renamon explained.

Sunflowmon extended her hand to Renamon who took it appreciatively while her other hand grasped Yumi's waist preparing to be dragged through the water.

Sunflowmon was surprisingly strong enough to pull both Renamon and Yumi out of the water and drag them through the air.

In the forest Kiva and Puppymon continued to stroll past the trees. Puppymon loyally stayed by her side keeping an eye out for any danger coming their way. As Kiva mentioned, this truly was a peaceful place to be. Puppymon began to understand why Kiva was in no rush to locate the others, the silence of the forest and not hearing a constant bickering between Mark, James and Yumi.

Kiva felt more relaxed than normal, something about this place was putting her into a calming state.

'_Puppymon do you notice that?'_ Kiva asked raising her head to the sky.

"You mean the strange calmness and unusual quietness?"

'_Yeah, that,'_ Kiva responded taking a deep breath inhaling the cool air.

"I don't trust it. Something seems off to me," Puppymon responded sniffing the air as well. His body tensed up quickly as he bared his teeth.

'_Puppymon calm down, everything is fine, I assure you,'_ Kiva replied continuing her walk without Puppymon.

"Wait up!"

At the end of the forest, Wizardmon had the bag over his shoulder and held on to the strap almost for dear life. He was certain that she was some place close by. He let out a sigh as he hung his head. He could head so many thoughts from everyone around him but was having difficulty deciphering Yumi's thoughts.

The memory of their close encounter came to his mind again as he looked back up.

~Flashback~

Wizardmon leaned against the wall listening for the kids who were entering the building looking for Kiva. He could distinctly see a young teenager with black hair with red streaks running through her ponytail, at the front of the group followed closely by the other children.

"Yumi, I doubt the digimon is in here," said a girl who almost looked similar to the other one.

"Not according to my digivice Victoria, he was here not to long ago. I swear, I'm not meant to have a digimon," sighed Yumi.

"Cheer up, I'm sure you'll find him sooner or later. Come on I see Kiva up ahead," replied Victoria.

Wizardmon could hear their running footsteps making their way toward Kiva who was still unconscious. Wizardmon hoped that he had done enough to heal her from any wounds that could affect her. He was sure on one thing it was going to take some time for the leg to fully heal.

As Wizardmon watched from the sidelines yearning to be by Yumi's side, Lynxmon joined him a concerned look on her face.

"Why don't you go to her? She's going to be upset until she finds you, and you're just going to regret the fact that you haven't shown yourself," Lynxmon said. Although affected by the black gear only moments ago, she soon became a protective and wise digimon.

"I can't. I mean I would love too, but I'm worried if I show myself now I'll be risking both our lives. Devimon knows that she is a weak link and will use that to his advantage. But there is more to it than that. She carries a strong will in her, and Devimon wants her out of the way. She is an unique digidestined that will prove more later in their journey. As well I can't be in sight or I will be hunted," Wizardmon explained.

"But you are going to watch her right? You're not just going to abandon her are you?" Lynxmon asked.

"Yes, I will watch her as best I can. I could never truly abandon her."

Wizardmon turned his attention back to the group. He could see Kiva struggling to her feet. She seemed to be very proud not to have help from the others. But Yumi seemed to finally help her.

"Can you stand?"

Kiva shook her head as she remained on the ground. Yumi extended out her hand offering it to Kiva. She took it as she slowly got to her feet. Victoria got to Kiva's other side helping her along. Wizardmon could see that none of the two groups were actually getting along with each other.

"I just hope that soon or later everyone get's along well or the groups will be divided."

~End flashback~

Wizardmon shook his head trying to clear his mind from the flashback. The fear that the group would split because of their difference built inside of him more and more. He knew that Victoria, Kiva and Yumi were refusing to get along with the other children. This could become their down fall.

But not worrying about it any more, Wizardmon came to a large cemetery, a fog rolled in making it difficult to see. Carefully making his way through the tombstones, Wizardmon tried his hardest to see what was around him.

Trees and tombstones lined the ground as well as the hills. Wizardmon marvelled at the place. As he walked along the path, he could faintly see four trees standing in a square with a platform between them. There was something about the spot that beckoned Wizardmon.

As he got close to the spot he could multiple voices from somewhere behind him. There were four female voices.

Back at the shore line, Yumi lay near a fire that Tora and Renamon made. Renamon told Tora and Lalamon what happened to them so far.

"As we were floating on the rock a crate appeared, at first Yumi was sceptical about it thinking it was just a crate. Unfortunately Flarerizamon appeared and started to attack us. I don't know how many more close calls we can have until she starts to truly believe that she was not meant to be here."

"Maybe she doesn't deserve to be here. I mean she is not a team player whatsoever…"

"Tora, this is not the time nor place to be accusing her at all. She doesn't deserve it," both Renamon and Lalamon said stopping her rant.

"Okay, sheesh."

"So, Renamon, how come Victoria isn't with you?" Lalamon asked.

"When Devimon sent his minions to attack us, Victoria wanted me to protect Yumi at all costs seeing that she was minus a digimon. Lucky enough she is safe after both attacks."

"You are such a good friend to do that for her," Lalamon said.

It was easy for the digimon to look on the better side of things than blaming like Tora always did.

"Did you know that you are all very loud?" Yumi said in a raspy voice.

"You're awake," Lalamon said hovering over her."

"Yes I am. Please tell me the others are here too," groaned Yumi sitting up. Her voice was icy in a way of annoyance and a sense of attitude.

"No, it's just the four of us. I see that your still not appreciative of being here," Tora replied coolly. Her resentment toward Yumi grew to a higher standard.

"Why haven't you started looking for them?" Yumi demanded.

"We were going to wait until day break before searching."

"You have got to be kidding me. Are you seriously that shallow that you won't even try?" Yumi accused.

"I'm not shallow. I'm just as concerned about the others than you are. There are things that need to be taken care of especially figuring out a plan and getting a lay of the island."

"You're unbelievable."

"That is enough you two. I don't want to hear any more bickering from either of you is that clear?" Renamon snapped stepping between the two girls.

"Yes," Yumi and Tora reluctantly agreed silently.

"Listen to me, while we are stuck on this island together the two of you need to get along and put your differences aside!" Renamon demanded angrily.

"There is no way that I…" Yumi started but was cut off by Renamon's intense glare.

"Fine. Tora, since we are stuck here, I suggest a truce. Until we find the others no more fighting, even if that means that we don't talk to each other," Yumi said.

"Agreed. But how about this? We go our separate ways, if we are going to be in silence."

"Yeah, no. There is no way I'm going to trust you to search on your own."

"Than the two of you **will** be stuck together, and there will be communication. Do I make myself clear?" Renamon snapped.

"Very."

"Excellent. I suggest that we get a move on to search this place and see what we can find," Renamon said looking toward the hill behind them.

"Let's go then," Yumi replied bitterly.

The four made their way toward the hill leading to the unknown. Yumi was eager to discover what was over the hill. Hopefully something dark and mysterious she could use to her advantage. Tora on the other hand was sceptical of the journey she was worried that something might show up out of the blue and attack.

"Are you sure there's no other way around?" Tora asked in a shaky voice.

"What you scare…" Yumi went to remark but was once again cut off by Renamon's stare.

"You have no idea how annoying that is," Yumi commented.

"I don't think I made the rules clear enough. No whining, complaining, or making fun of one another. Yumi that last one applies to you the most."

"This is going to be fun," sighed Yumi through gritted teeth.

At the top of the hill, Yumi's face lit up as she stared down at a vast cemetery covered in fog. Now this was a place to be.

"Perfect, now we'll never be able to leave. Yumi found her home."

"Hey!" Yumi yelled.

"Tora! Yumi!" Renamon shouted frustrated. Poor Lalamon didn't know what to do with herself.

"What?" both girls asked innocently.

"We'll take a quick look around, if we can't find anything, we'll leave. Besides I see a forest on the far side of here. We'll follow the path till we reach there."

Yumi narrowed her eyes at Tora before she stormed off down the path ahead of the others. She could never truly get along with anyone, even if she had to. There's too much stress dealing with them, their ideas were different than hers and she couldn't deal, she had her theories and she stuck to her theories.

"What is her deal?" Tora whispered to Lalamon and Renamon.

"She's proud. She will never ask for help, never take advice. Victoria told me that it's mainly caused by her past life."

"Still there shouldn't be any excuse with it. The three girls know it, we need to work together."

"In due time they'll come around. For now, I suggest keeping your distance and not get under her skin."

It didn't take long before Yumi's digivice went off. At first she thought Kiva or Victoria were around, but when she looked at the small device her eyes widened. A peach dot appeared on the screen not to far from where she stood.

"Renamon! Tora! Lalamon! Over here!" called Yumi.

"What's going on?" wondered Tora aloud.

The three made their way toward Yumi and stopped. The could see Yumi holding out her digivice where it was strong.

"What is it?"

"I found my digimon again."

"Excellent, where?"

"Over there. Come one, I don't want another disappointment like last time."

Yumi took off down the path at a run her digivice in front of her determined as ever to finally see and have her digimon at her side. Her heart was racing with the anticipation as the dot got stronger with each step.

Kiva continued her way through the forest with Puppymon still at her side. Puppymon still had his guard up the entire way. He still didn't trust the forest but there was no convincing Kiva whatsoever. A for began to roll in as the two continued their way. There didn't seem to be any ending to the forest.

"Kiva, I think we're lost," Puppymon said.

'_No, really?'_ Kiva asked sarcastically. _'I swear I past this tree before.'_

"You get more irritable when your stressed don't you?"

Kiva didn't give a response, only shot him a look of annoyance.

"I take that as a yes."

As the two continued their way a branch snapped somewhere ahead of them causing both to stop in their tracks.

"Now do you believe me when I say something is in here?" Puppymon asked.

'_I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but I'm not leaving here. We'll just be on our guard that's all.'_

"It's going to take an evil digimon to fully get your attention isn't it?"

'_Yes, yes it is.'_

"I give up."

With the fear of having a digimon lurking in the forest, Kiva and Puppymon slowly made their way toward the noise. It wasn't out of stupidity to be brave, it was more of wanting to exit or at least clear the forest.

"I swear, it's like your trying to drag me to our death."

'_Shut up Puppymon, I hear something up ahead,'_ Kiva said stopping in her tracks.

The two strained their ears trying to understand more of where the noise was coming from. It was impossible to tell by eyes alone in a place like this. Creeping ever closer to the sound, Kiva's heart began to race. There were way too many things running through her mind; is this an evil digimon or one to trust? How fast can both run even with her legs still on the sore side? And could Puppymon digivolve if the situation got bad.

"Whose out there?" Puppymon asked in a trance voice indicating Kiva had linked minds once again. "We know your out here."

"A curious bunch aren't we now? How patient will you be?" a hushed voice called through the fog making the voice seem closer than it seemed.

"I have no time for your games, show yourself right now!" demanded Kiva as she got into a fighting stance.

"Will you be willing to pay the consequences or will you turn back now?"

"What consequences?"

"Typical I must say of the curious types."

'_Puppymon, take him out,'_ Kiva silently said to Puppymon breaking their link.

'_With pleasure,'_ Puppymon thought back.

Kiva watched as the black fur disappeared into the fog searching for the mysterious voice. Shouts could be heard, Kiva never worried about it she knew that Puppymon could hold his own.

"Puppy bite!"

"Illusion mask!"

Kiva was confused by the second attack, it didn't make any sense to her.

'_Puppymon are you all right?'_

'_Splendid, just don't move. I fear that whatever just happened is going to affect my vision,'_ Puppymon cautioned causing Kiva to stop mid step.

'_Puppymon what's going on?'_

'_I'm sending him out.'_

There was more fighting sounds causing Kiva to smirk. She was highly proud of her digimon and knew that it was easy to not worry about him.

"Hey, how did you escape? Let go!" shouted the creature.

In seconds a tall, thin person wearing a light sky blue hat and jumpsuit with an icy blue cowl say just around the chin appeared before Kiva. Its skin was a pale white, giving off a sick look.

"Who are you?" Kiva demanded connecting with Puppymon who stood behind the digimon blocking his path.

"My name is Illusiomon my dear. I'm the illusionist digimon, my illusion mask will put you in the world of daze and confusion of where you are."

"Look here buddy I don't have time to deal with your insufferable speeches. Tell me how to escape this forest and no harm will come to you," threatened Kiva getting highly annoyed.

"I'm sorry to say, but you'll never escape. You are trapped here permanently."

"As much as I don't mind the whole solitude thing, I prefer to be going on my way. People know not to mess with me, especially when I become irritable."

Wizardmon turned his head toward the location of the noise of running footsteps. He placed the bag on the ground and waited patiently. He knew that he didn't have long until the footsteps would make it to their location. It killed him on the inside not to stay and see his partner but the time wasn't right.

As soon as figures emerged behind the curtain of fog, Wizardmon rose into the air and took off into the night.

"One day I promise there will be no more secrets," Wizardmon whispered flying off.

On the ground Yumi stopped dead in her tracks at the four trees with the platform. Her breathing was still quick and irregular as she looked around hoping for a glimpse of something, but there was nothing. All she could see was her black bag.

"Looks like someone was nice enough to deliver your bag for you," Renamon said.

"Yeah, just wish I could see who it was to thank him."

"How can anyone even stand being here? Its so depressing," Tora said looking around.

"It's a calming place for your information, there's peace, quiet and sense of relaxation," Yumi replied trying her hardest not to yell at Tora.

"Whatever," scoffed Tora.

Yumi glared at her, fighting the urge to start yelling and screaming at her for being so highly annoying but Renamon stared down at her threateningly. Yumi rolled her eyes as she slipped her bag over her shoulder and made her way down the long steep path. She was too preoccupied in searching out her friends to truly care.

Lalamon took her eyes off her partner to notice that Yumi was making her way down the path towards the forest.

"Hey, did anyone else know that Yumi left without us?"

"I'm going to have to keep me eyes on her more often. Which way?"

"Down here."

Tora, Renamon and Lalamon made their way down the path in hopes of locating Yumi. The fog was letting up making it really difficult for them to see.

"Yumi, wait up!" called Renamon finally going on a full out run to catch up with her.

"Renamon, wait for us!" shouted Tora who grabbed hold of Lalamon and ran off toward Renamon's outline through the fog.

Yumi never budged when hearing her name being called. She was far too distracted to notice. In her hand she held her digivice that started blinking black. Her eyebrows were furrowed trying to understand where it was. Although there was a forest up ahead from where she stood the dot didn't seem to be anywhere close by. It would fade to a different area every two seconds. At first she thought Kiva might be moving around but how the dot faded it suggested otherwise.

"Okay, what part of stay together do you not understand?"

"When it comes to finding Kiva."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? Kiva's dot is blinking a mile a minutes. Tora should know this, we're all connected some how or another on the digivices."

"Tora, how come you didn't say anything?" Lalamon asked.

"Oh, I guess I wasn't paying attention. Where's that device anyway?" pondered Tora going through her bag.

"Just as I thought. Come on, her got is going mental and I want to know why."

Puppymon was going into a full out battle with Illusiomon refusing to give up. His main concern was to protect Kiva and keep her safe from harms way.

"Puppy claw!"

"Confusion blast."

Kiva who was watching on the sidelines dodged out of the way as the confusion attack came her way. Puppymon barely missed the attack himself. Kiva looked his way to see Puppymon lying on the ground refusing to move in fear of what the ultimate effects were going to be.

'_Puppymon, are you all right?'_

'_I think so, just dizzy. I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens, get out of here. I don't trust any of his attacks, especially if they could do any harm to you or I.'_

'_Got it. But promise me you'll be safe in the long run.'_

'_I will.'_

"What's the matter, giving up already? What happened to playing games?" Illusiomon taunted.

Puppymon slowly got to his feet and glared menacingly at the other digimon. He was in no mood to deal with this jester. He bared his teeth and lowered his body ready to pounce at him.

"I've had enough of this game time. It's on now!"

"Oh, I'm scared."

"You will be," threatened Puppymon.

"Illusion mask!"

Puppymon went to dodge the attack but was not quick enough. The attack hit him hard, although it didn't weaken him, his senses were all messed up. In his eyes the dark forest became more of a field. It was lighter, almost cheerful. Voices sounded everywhere around him making him look all over the place hoping to find Kiva in the disarray.

"Kiva where are you?" Puppymon called out.

"Not so easy is it?" a voice called out.

"Who said that?" Puppymon growled.

"Take a look around and find the voice," taunted the voice.

Puppymon strained his ears. He thought at first it was Yumi's voice, but listening closer he could distinctly hear Illusiomon's almost riddling.

Kiva braced herself for any attack that Illusiomon might dish out. She could definitely see now that Illusiomon wasn't under the effect of the black gears. There was no way Puppymon could be of assistance to her seeing that he seemed to be concentrating on something around him.

"It seems your all alone, not to brave without your friend. Do you dare take a move and have Puppymon attack you instead? Or do you stay right here and allow me the honours of killing you now?"

Kiva couldn't stand the taunting any more. It wasn't riddling, it was annoyance. She was beginning to loath every part of his existence. But first thing was first in her eyes, and that was to snap Puppymon out of his trance.

'_Puppymon, listen to my voice alone, don't listen to anyone else's. I'm not sure what is going on, but you have to trust me in order to do this.'_

Puppymon was in a rut with all these voices around him, but no one was facing him, it was as if they were only echoes of voices. It still didn't allow him to locate the one person he truly seek.

"Come on Fakemon, I'm over here!" came Tora's voice.

"No, I'm over here," came Yukito's voice.

The voices were all around, but the one word he kept hearing was Fakemon, the one word he loathed to hear.

"What are you waiting for Fakemon?" Robert asked.

By this time anger had risen to the max within him. This time it was personal.

"Puppy claw!"

He lunged himself toward the voices, he knew Illusiomon was around. In reality, he was two feet away from Kiva causing her to jump out of the way.

"It seems that poor Puppymon is losing him mind."

'_Whatever you did to him take it off this instant!'_ demanded Kiva mentally. She knew it was a useless attempt on her behalf, only Puppymon could hear her, but who was to say what this digimon could do.

"Lost for words my dear or never had them to begin with? If that's the case then too bad so sad. Because you'll never learn to speak them when I'm through with you."

Kiva didn't know what to do with herself. She looked helplessly at Puppymon who was continuously attacking the air and back to the digimon responsible for the strangeness of the forest.

"Confusion blast!"

'_Shit!'_ thought Kiva diving to the ground. _'This is definitely going to be harder than I thought.'_

Illusiomon was not about to give up no matter what the cost, which meant Kiva could not stop dodging. There was nothing for her to use as a weapon and she did not trust attacking him head on afraid of what he was capable of.

"Come on, is that the best you've got?"

'_He is slowly getting on my nerves,'_ thought Kiva mentally observing her surroundings, while keeping her eyes on Illusiomon.

Inside Puppymon's own reality he kept trying to find the true Illusiomon and not the impostor he saw before him. Their voices all taunted him making him keep lunging at everything.

"Fakemon, you're slowing down, don't you want to try harder?" Mark taunted with a laughter.

"You can never fully achieve anything, you are far too weak," said James.

"Make them stop, make them stop!" Puppymon growled.

The voices all circled around his head making it more difficult for him to concentrate. He needed to free himself out of chaos and finish off Illusiomon himself.

'_Puppymon, listen to my voice alone, don't listen to anyone else's. I'm not sure what is going on, but you have to trust me in order to do this.'_

Puppymon looked around at all the faces thinking that Kiva was around somewhere he just couldn't see her. But there was nothing, no sign of her. Puppymon didn't allow that to but him down. Taking her advice to trust her, he immediately got an idea of his own.

'_Kiva if you can hear me, run! I'm sure Illusiomon is going to pull the same trick here making me attack you. You have to trust me that it will never happen.'_

Kiva still kept her eyes mainly on Illusiomon, her breathing was heavier after all the close calls. She only dared to move in the same spot, she didn't want to have Puppymon attack, but of course that was the least of her worries.

'_Kiva if you can hear me, run! I'm sure Illusiomon is going to pull the same trick here making me attack you. You have to trust me that it will never happen,'_ Puppymon's voice whispered into her mind. For one second she took her eyes off Illusiomon and stared at Puppymon who seemed to be searching something out. For the moment his back was turned to her.

'_I hope you know what your doing.'_

Turning her attention back to Illusiomon she searched for any sign that he wanted to yet again and decided to make a break for it. She had no plan set up whatsoever, the only thing that came to mind was run and come up with something along the way.

Puppymon looked around at his surroundings waiting patiently. He slowly turned around keeping an eye on the faces before him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Illusiomon run down the field. Puppymon's first instinct was to go after him, he wanted to attack to get it over with. But who was to say if that truly was him or not.

Laughter sounded behind making him quickly turn. Hiding in the bushes was Illusiomon snickering away. Puppymon set out an attack hoping to have actually hit him. Unfortunately he was too quick for Puppymon and disappeared from sight. He randomly popped up every couple of seconds to taunt Puppymon before disappearing again.

Puppymon had enough of this, it need to end now. Closing his eyes and taking a breath he concentrated on his power willing a stronger attack to arise and clear everything away.

Within seconds Puppymon reopened his eyes as a light covered his entire body. Puppymon could feel his entire body begin to change as he digivolve to his champion level.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Gathering all his energy into one, he opened his mouth where a silvery white fire-like flame formed.

"Wolf blast!" Wolfmon sent out the attack destroying all the fake digidestined and digimon. Everything began to shatter around him causing reality to come back.

In one of the branches high above Kiva watched as Wolfmon attack the air and the trees. There was something more that she wasn't seeing but could sense inside. Wolfmon had finally escaped the mind control of Illusiomon and was extremely pissed off.

Outside the whole disarray forest, Yumi, Tora, Renamon and Lalamon were running full speed into the forest, hopefully they would be able to locate Kiva and Puppymon some time soon.

"Yumi, what way do we need to go?"

"Give me a minute, I'm trying to get a lock on them, some how or another something is causing Kiva's dot to fade in and out in different locations."

"You are not making sense."

"Don't believe me, check it out," insisted Yumi handing over her digivice to Renamon.

Renamon looked down to see a black dot flash over to the left, then when it disappeared and reappeared it as to the right. There was no explanation for the weird movements. With no more words Renamon handed it back to Yumi.

"I'm so at a loss."

"How is she able to more that quickly? The two of them can't teleport," Tora said.

Yumi and Renamon side glanced one another rolling their eyes. They knew she was able to think logically and all but when it came to some things there was no excuse.

"Come on, lets go investigate the situation and get of here. Tora, I beg of you, don't talk any more please."

The four entered the forest unaware of what was going on. However it didn't take long before an explosion sounded in the middle of the forest sending warning bells ringing through their ears.

"Oh gods Kiva!"

"There might be a chance that she might not be there."

"I don't want to take that chance."

Fear grew in the pit of Yumi's stomach. What happens if Kiva was in the middle of the attack? What happens if Kiva was hurt? There was so many questions running through her head she didn't know what to expect.

"Yumi, you have to keep a clear mind. You can't be unfocused and distracted," Renamon warned.

"I am focus and I do have a clear mind," Yumi said.

"Has the dot stopped moving in multiple areas yet?" asked Tora finally catching up to Yumi and Renamon.

"Not yet, it doesn't want to make up its mind just yet," replied Yumi glancing down at the screen seeing the dot move to different locations every second. _'Kiva please be all right. This is freaking me out.'_

The forest was not a friendly one to venture into. There were so many broken branches on the ground it would be a miracle to actually get through safely at top speed. There wasn't a path anywhere to guide them only the digivice and one very undetermined dot.

Yumi saw as a easy obstacle. There was not one thing in there that could not slow her down. She had dealt with much worse at home when hanging with Kiva and Victoria.

As for Tora she saw this as a challenge. She knew herself that she could not get through without killing herself. Any and all obstacles were not her friends. She was presumed a klutz with any obstacles.

"We need to go straight a head and take a left by a fork in the woods. I just hope the dot would stop and stay still soon."

"Let's god then."

The four took off into the forest at top speed. Lalamon, Renamon and Yumi cleared each obstacle with ease. As for Tora she was getting more hesitant with each step. She hated to prove how much of a klutz she was especially falling on her face.

Tora didn't know how many times she prayed that there was a path somewhere. She was nowhere near the same speed as the others. She would only slow them down. She could see Yumi clear the fallen branches and avoided smashing into trees. Her hair bobbed with each step, she was so determined to find Kiva and ignore those around her.

"Guys wait up!" called Tora picking the speed up after a couple of minutes after seeing that she was far behind them again.

"Tora come on, we need to stick together," called back Yumi slowing down and turning her attention to Tora.

Tora could see that there was no hatred, no anger or frustration inside Yumi at all. It was as if something had changed in her all of a sudden. Smiling slightly, Tora picked up the speed to catch up to Yumi, Renamon and Lalamon. A light feeling seemed to fill everyone. Tora never questioned it once knowing if she did everything would change and she like this new feeling.

"Come on Tora, we have to find Kiva so we can get out of this forsaken island and get rid of Devimon."

"Sure, right behind you."

Both girls were side by side now keeping track of each other. Tora was glad that this new Yumi was a little nicer than the one that entered the forest.

Wolfmon stood growling threateningly at Illusiomon who seemed to be more terrified than before.

"Come on, let's talk about this shall we? You don't truly want to hurt me do you?" Illusiomon asked, his taunting and riddling out of his voice.

"Talking is over! I take high offence when it comes to being called Fakemon. You will pay dearly for that," threatened Wolfmon.

Kiva who remained in the tree could tell that his voice had changed somewhat. A darker aura seemed to take over. She was both equally amused and terrified by this. Who was to say what he would do to her if she went to his side.

'_Keep to your true self,'_ Kiva thought hoping that Wolfmon got the message.

"Wolf blast!"

Illusiomon didn't know what to do, he was backed against a tree and knew full well that any attacks couldn't stop this big digimon.

"Your through!"

After the flames disintegrated, Illusiomon lay unconscious on the ground. Burn marks seemed to have covered his entire body. Wolfmon, now satisfied dedigivolved back to Puppymon who now sat down and looked up at Kiva who stared back down at him with similar satisfied eyes.

"Kiva, can you hear me?!" called Yumi.

Kiva turned her head toward the sound of Yumi's voice. Sure enough jumping over branches were Tora and Yumi side by side followed by Renamon and Lalamon.

"Where did you four come from?" asked Kiva through Puppymon.

"We were on the outer edges of the island. We soon found your dot but couldn't fully track it because it kept moving around wildly. But we managed to get to you," replied Yumi.

"Well since we are now all together, I suggest we get out of here. Maybe there's a way of getting off this island."

"Okay, who is that?" Tora asked pointing to the unconscious Illusiomon.

"That is Illusiomon, one very annoying digimon. So let's go."

Everyone headed out of the forest and back to the cemetery. Kiva let out a breath of relief setting foot into the cemetery after being stuck in the forest for so long.

"Before we get completely hooked on this place, please let's just leave," Tora pleaded.

"What's with her?" Puppymon asked.

"She's not too thrilled about here," Renamon answered.

Before anyone could say anything, the ground automatically began to shake with no explanation behind it. The three girls looked at the ground suspiciously. The tombstones all started to shatter as the ground split open.

"What the hell?" questioned Yumi.

"Black gears! The island is filled with them," replied Kiva and Puppymon.

"Look, they're stopping," Tora mentioned.

"Oh, this can't be a good thing," groaned Yumi.

"No, look, they're going the other way. Toward infinity mountain," responded Kiva.

"I say we get out of here now!" Tora suggested.

"Good idea."

"Labramon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

At the edge of the island the three took off through the night. Wolfmon ran on the water, he surprisingly was running above the water as if he were weightless with Kiva on his back. Sunflowmon simply hovered above the water her arms wrapped around Tora's waist. Renamon had her arms wrapped Yumi's waist and teleported across the water disappearing and reappearing every couple of minutes.

"Victoria we're on our way," Yumi whispered.

**A/N: Yeah the ending was quick, I wanted to end it before I went on and on lol. Also if anyone got confused about the whole forest thing, and why Yumi turned nice, it was because of Illusiomon's trick. It messed with their minds in a sense. I suck at explaining things so sue me lol.**


	12. Labramon's determination

**Disclaimer: As I've always said, I don't own anything. All I own is my own characters.**

**A/N: So here is my new chapter, sorry for taking so long. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I would like to thank San Child of the Wolves, and White Hunter for their reviews, I'm grateful for them. I've changed Kisho's attitude in this chapter. You'll see more of that later in the chapters.**

Chapter 12

Labramon's determination

Two beds plummeted toward the earth at a breakneck speed during the night. The owners of the beds could feel their hearts lift to their throats. Their digimon watched in horror at the quickening impact.

"Kisho, hang on!" yelled Labramon in fear.

"Yukito, this will all be over soon!" Penguinmon assured.

"As much as I don't mind the whole crash course, I rather not die just yet!" shouted Yukito as he held on to the bed for dear life.

"We're not going to survive this!" screamed Kisho grasping anything he could.

"Kisho, keep your eyes shut and don't think about it!" commanded Yukito.

Kisho took a deep breath as he closed his eyes awaiting the collision. He didn't know what was worse this or a huge roller coaster going a hundred miles per hour. There was a high exhilaration as the drop commenced. Kisho tried his hardest to keep his mind on anything else.

Yukito tried to contain his breathing as his stomach began to lurch. He could see the ground get closer with every second. He silently prayed that the impact wasn't going to be excruciatingly painful. But of course, what fall from that height wasn't going to be painful?

In seconds both beds crashed into water destroying the beds in the process. Yukito was the first to emerge from the water coughing and spluttering as he looked around for Penguinmon, Kisho and Labramon. He could see Penguinmon floating on his back enjoying the water, a few feet from him. It worried him when he couldn't see Kisho, although he wasn't really a people person he still cared about the safety of the younger crowd.

"Kisho!" Yukito called hoping that by some miracle Kisho was safe on land or holding on to a rock of some sort.

"Let me check under the water, maybe I can see them," Penguinmon said diving under the water. Yukito remained treading the water searching every spot possible there was. This was slowly starting to scare him to no end. The worse possible thoughts kept creeping up into his head.

"I don't see them, I'm not sure where exactly they could be," Penguinmon said a minute later.

"Oh god," breathed Yukito swimming over to Penguinmon. He didn't know what he was going to do; all he knew was that explaining this to Mark was going to be the worst thing he's ever had to do. Dread sank into his heart with each kick he took.

"Yukito, look!" Penguinmon said indicating behind Yukito. Yukito stopped swimming and turned around. Emerging from the water was a white dog with a small boy on his back.

Yukito let out a sigh of relief as he made his way over to Kisho and Labramon. Labramon himself doggy paddled over to a rock to allow Kisho some time to rest.

"Labramon, are you all right?" asked Yukito holding on to the rock.

"Yeah, I'm all right, side from the mild head rush and water log feeling but things couldn't be better."

"Kisho, how are you doing?" Yukito asked.

"Never better," Kisho replied weakly.

Yukito smiled slightly as he lifted his body on the rock and lay down. Kisho was already lying upon the rock easing his racing heart. Labramon forced himself on to the rock and collapsed in between Yukito and Kisho. Penguinmon on the other hand remained floating in the water.

Morning rose quickly greeting the tired boys. Yukito was already in his jeans and t-shirt; sleep never came to him, which caused for a restless night. Kisho on the other hand was still out cold. Labramon was still resting next to him in a protective pose.

Penguinmon had finally gotten out of the water and was now resting on a nearby piece of land in front of a water fall. The rushing sound didn't seem to bother anyone, especially Kisho. But it caused one big problem, how were they supposed to get from point A to where they were now to point B to where the others were? Yukito couldn't get that predicament out of his head as he stared at the large water fall. Neither one of their digimon could fly. Labramon couldn't digivolve yet.

"Yukito, what are you thinking about?" Kisho asked in a soft voice.

"How we are going to get over that water fall to the other side. Maybe there is a way on one of the sides."

"I say we get a move on if we are ever going to escape this island and find our friends," suggested Penguinmon.

By this time, Kisho was already changed into his dry clothes all ready to go. Labramon was already standing up ready to move too. Yukito was impressed on how fast everyone moved at his suggestion.

Without another word the four made their way down the little strip of land on to a path leading away from the water fall. Neither of them knew what to expect on this island. With that in mind they needed to keep their minds focused with each step they took.

"Do you know where are we are?" asked Kisho.

"Not a clue. Not _*a*_ clue," Yukito replied putting emphasis on the last 'a'.

Time passed by and the field it seemed they were on didn't change all the way. Yukito had the look of being disgruntled plastered on his face as their walk continued. In his hand sat his digivice with a blank screen. He was not impressed that nothing was showing up.

"Yukito, in your opinion, what do you think Labramon would digivolve into?" Kisho asked after several minutes of silence.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that Labramon is the only one not to be able to digivolve."

"Give it time, he'll digivolve soon. You need to give him patience."

Yukito could tell that Kisho was concerned that his digimon was still in the rookie stages compared to many of the others who have exceeded into their champion forms, except for Yumi seeing as that was an understatement as she still had no luck in locating her digimon. Kisho it seemed didn't like to be in the shadows of a lot of the older campers, he seemed to be trying his hardest to prove he's more.

"I'm curious Kisho, how come you're not worried about the location of your brother?" wondered Yukito. "Most people, especially younger siblings would be worried about their older siblings' safety and whereabouts."

"He's old enough to take care of himself. I know that he must be worried sick about me, but needs to know that I need my breathing space. As a child he was always so attached to me and clingy. I couldn't breathe without him beside me. He's learned to back off for now. Mom knows that I like my space and she's told Mark countless times to do the same," Kisho explained.

"Well, that does explain it. But older brothers are supposed to worry."

"Since when did you get so spiritual about this?" Penguinmon asked.

"Hey, I might spend half my time locked in my room in my dark space, but I do know what it feels like to have people looking over your shoulder."

The walk seemed to have shortened with their talking. With the field behind them, a colourful place seemed to be up ahead. There were balloons, tall boxes with little designs on them. In the trees seemed to be little toys along with the leaves. Yukito looked up at the colourful items with narrowed eyes of annoyance. He somehow managed to get into a play land, not just any play land, a child's play land.

Kisho on the other hand was in awe of the scenery. It reminded him of a carnival or something. The shapes and designs reminded with of balloons seen at fairs. First thing that came into mind was cotton candy and popcorn.

Labramon and Penguinmon turned their attention toward their partners in wonder. Penguinmon was concerned about Yukito's reaction toward the place. He thought Yukito would be a little more enthusiastic like Kisho was. He wasn't expecting his mood to quickly shift into a more depressed one. But he did realize that Yukito frequently went through mood swings.

Labramon was curious as to why Kisho seemed to be more of the excited one to be around this type of place. Obviously he wasn't truly one to understand the human world concepts, but he knew enough after being around Kisho and the other humans. Still a lot of things confused him on different levels. For no he just needed to accept what was going on with Kisho.

"Okay, please tell me we are not about to go in there," Yukito said stopping in his tracks.

"Come on Yukito it'll be fun," Kisho replied with a giant smile on his face.

"Kisho, there is no way you are about to get me inside that place."

"What could be so bad about here? Do you think an evil digimon could be around?"

"Quite possibly. This could be one of Devimon's tricks again. And I don't feel like being set up for something like this."

"Please, it'll be quick, I promise. In and out."

"I have your word? If anything should go wrong, we are gone? I'm not trying to be a chicken here, but my first responsibility is to protect you. Yeah, you are old enough to take care of yourself and you do have a digimon to protect you. But there are certain things that we can't defend ourselves from."

"I promise."

Kisho made his way inside with Labramon at his heels leaving Yukito and Penguinmon to drag their feet behind them. Laughter could be heard up ahead from Kisho as he started running and bouncing on the ground. Yukito let out a sigh as he shook his head.

"This is going to be a *_long_* day!" groaned Yukito putting great emphasis on long as he continued to make his way into the village.

"It shouldn't be that bad."

"Not that bad? Penguinmon, I'm in this little village with a very happy-go-lucky kid who doesn't seem to get depressed too easily. You know once we get in here there is no way he'll want to leave."

"Yukito, keep you head held high and don't be such a downer. Listen to me, Kisho is still a young boy, he needs a great role model and seeing that his brother isn't here that would be you. He doesn't need someone who is going to rain on his parade."

"Penguinmon, do you seriously hear yourself?"

"Yes."

"You're incredible. Look, for a little bit I'll go along with this whole happy thing. After that I'm going back to my usual mopey, depressed mood and I'm not coming out until we find our way home."

"That could be a while."

Further inside the village, Yukito saw Kisho holding onto an egg with different designs upon the shell. Labramon was sniffing around some of the cradles containing what seemed to be little digimon.

"Penguinmon, what are those?" Yukito asked.

"Baby digimon."

"Very…interesting."

"Wonder what will happen when I rub the egg? Do you think a genie would appear?" Kisho wondered lightly rubbing the side of the egg.

Yukito stared at the egg as Kisho continued to rub it. Slowly it began to shake and the shell started to shatter away. In seconds a little black head appeared from the egg.

"Wow, a baby digimon!" Kisho exclaimed.

"It's so cute," Labramon said.

"We need to find it a cradle."

"I'll see if I can find a spare one."

Labramon started to sniff at the ground hoping to find something, anything of use. But as he got a little further away, the egg that broke turned itself into a cradle.

"That was convenient."

"Oh yeah, this is going to be a *_very_* long and boring day," Yukito sighed sitting on the ground cross legged.

"Come on, you have to make the most of it," Penguinmon urged trying to force Yukito to cheer up.

"These guys are so soft and squishy," Kisho said.

'_Oh brother,'_ thought Yukito as a thought came to mind. _'I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy.'_

Yukito sat back and watched Kisho observe all the baby digimon. Yukito couldn't find it in him to go along with the whole happy, cheery Yukito. It almost sickened him just listening to Kisho. Penguinmon disappeared from his side to go hang out with Kisho. The three of them seemed to be having a great time.

"It's like babysitting all over again," groaned Yukito collapsing on the padded ground. "He stared up at the sky watching the clouds float by. In a way this was a good way to sit back and relax for some time. How could anything spoil this moment?

"No, don't cry."

Spoke to soon.

"What's the matter? Are you hungry?"

"What happened?" Yukito asked sitting up.

"I don't know. One second we were sitting here the next second all the babies started to cry."

"Wonderful. Simply wonderful. First of all, let's round them up and put them back in the cradles. Second of all, we should do and find some food," Yukito suggested picking up what seemed to be a pure white blob.

"Good idea."

The four got to work picking up every baby digimon there was. It never occurred to Yukito or Kisho how quickly the babies could move. It never stopped them however, it was important that the babies got back to their cradles before whoever was caring for them got back. Somehow, Yukito feared that whoever it was was not going to be too thrilled that they were there.

Down by the stream a red digimon with blue streaks through the fur seemed to be staring longingly into the water. Not out of hunger, but out of patience and timing. Nothing seemed to be happening just yet, only the strong current. But something told him to wait.

His name was Elecmon, the keeper of the newborn digimon at the Primary Village. His super thunder strike could easily fry his opponent. He was a digimon to fear on some levels. His protective instinct rose greatly when anyone threatened his charges.

Watching patiently he saw a swarm of fish swimming up the stream. Taking his chance he leapt into the air and set out an attack to the school of fish. When he returned to the ground he gathered up all those who were affected by the attack and placed them inside of the net he carried.

"Easiest ways to catch fish, no worry of worms, no use of fishing rods, less patience," Elecmon said tying the next up with the huge catch. "This should feed all the little ones for a long time."

Elecmon took the part of the net that was tied up into his mouth and dragged it down the path by the stream to the village. The walk itself was a long one. It wasn't an easy one to take, especially hording the catch of the day. He dreaded the dragging of food, but he knew in his mind that is had to be done no matter what.

As he got closer to the village something came over him making him stop in his tracks. He could sense that something was wrong. From where he was to where the Primary Village was he could hear the crying of the babies. He knew right there and then that someone were harming his babies.

"Don't worry babies, I'm on my way!" Elecmon called disregarding the net fish and ran the rest of the way free of the weight.

Back at Primary Village Kisho, Yukito, Penguinmon and Labramon determined to get all the babies back into their cradles. They were way too out numbered. All the babies refused to stay inside.

Yukito was getting frustrated with finding the same digimon. Although they weren't all the same digimon there were quite a few look-alikes. He had counted over forty baby digimon roaming around; some he admitted were probably the same ones.

As for Kisho he made a game of it to make everything go a little smoother and quicker, but even he was getting annoyed by the constant run around. There was no denying that he wanted to give up and agree with Yukito that this was all just a big waste of time and that they should have avoided the village altogether.

Labramon and Penguinmon were beyond frustrated with this, neither one could keep up with all the little digimon. Just like their human partners the two were ready to call it quits and leave the place without putting back any of the babies.

"What do you think you are doing with my babies?" demanded an angry voice five feet from where they stood.

Penguinmon and Labramon went into defence mode and stood in front of their partners who were holding two different digimon. In Yukito's hand was a white blob called a Poyomon. Kisho held on to the little black head like digimon known as a Botamon. Kisho was shocked to see the red and blue digimon standing before him, he felt guilty for holding Botamon. Yukito on the other hand rolled his eyes letting down his defences a bit.

"Dude, we weren't doing anything. We happened to stumble upon this village in search of our friends. The babies are fine. See?" Yukito snapped letting his anger get to him. He held out the Poyomon all safe and secure in his hands. That didn't seem to be enough proof to Elecmon that Kisho and Yukito weren't trying to harm the digimon one way or another.

"You assume that I'm just supposed to believe what you say? I demand to know who you two are!"

"Don't say anything Kisho. With his attitude I wouldn't give him any of our time," Labramon said without turning his head to Kisho. His eyes were locked on to Elecmon's ice blue eyes.

"Hey, don't you be back talking me pup. I'm not the one to barge into ones home and be rude."

"At least we aren't giving attitude. I don't know why you are angry with us. We had the decency to take care of the digimon while you were AWOL," Labramon shot back.

Both Yukito and Kisho were in shock with Labramon's tone of voice. None of them expected him to snap at anyone. Apparently you can't always judge ones attitude too quickly. Kisho didn't want to interfere with the little conflict between Elecmon and Labramon, it was turning very interesting on both accounts. Yukito was impressed by the dog digimon's take charge attitude. Penguinmon had no words to describe the situation. There was too much of a good thing going on.

"I don't understand why you are being all high and mighty here."

"You barbarians always make the same mistake. You never understand the true meaning of me. I'm not some ordinary digimon who just happened to come along and catch the four of you. This is Primary Village hatching ground and nursery, a very special place where all digimon start their lives and I'm a very special digimon entrusted with caring for each and every single one of them," explained Elecmon.

"Well you don't have to put on this huge show of being an arrogant jerk," Labramon snapped.

"I'm not overly thrilled when trespassers invade my territory. But enough of this chatter, you all must leave!" demanded Elecmon sending out his super thunder strike.

Labramon leapt into the air dodging the attack. He was not impressed that Elecmon saw it necessary to attack him. Labramon was now getting irritated at him as Elecmon kept attacking. Labramon didn't want to attack him seeing that he had not done anything wrong, but Elecmon wasn't giving up whatsoever. Labramon turned to Penguinmon who stayed back merely watching the fight, he didn't want to get caught in the middle.

"This is insane! Retrieve bark!" Labramon yelled.

"Super thunder strike!"

"Kisho, don't you think this has gone on long enough? Maybe we should separate the two," suggested Yukito leaning against one of the blocks. His arms were folded in front of him uncaring. He rolled his eyes at the constant back and forth battle between the two digimon.

"Maybe, but I want to see the out come," Kisho said. The words surprised him greatly. Yukito looked down at him stunned at his words. In a way Yukito was just as curious.

"Is this even safe for those two to be fighting around the babies?" Penguinmon asked concerned.

"Not really, but I don't want to get in between those two while their fighting. Labramon, not the type of digimon to back down."

"Good to know."

"Retrieve bark!"

"Super thunder strike!"

Their attacks were matched evenly making Kisho worry a little as the attacks started to miss and attack the babies. Penguinmon went on the defence mode protecting all the little ones to the best of his ability. Neither Labramon nor Elecmon seemed to know what truly was going on, their minds were set upon hurting each other.

"Guys! Knock it off! This isn't solving anything, except who can get hurt faster!" yelled Kisho now angry at both digimon for their behaviour.

"Huh?" both asked stunned landing on the ground opposite one another looking confused.

"Kisho, what's the matter?" Labramon asked.

"This isn't going anywhere. Do you two truly have to fight?" Kisho asked picking up the Botamon.

"Yes, because this arrogant digimon doesn't understand the concept of back down."

"Oh, I don't understand the concept of back down? What about you? I have never seen a digimon so bent on fighting so much in my life. What do you truly have to prove?" Elecmon asked.

"Kisho, come one. Can I please teach this arrogant digimon a lesson?" Labramon asked ignoring Elecmon's question. Why was it any of his business what his reason was?

"Yukito what do you think they should do instead of fighting?"

"I don't know. What is something that can resolve a fight without breaking into one?"

"Dude, there is nothing. It all involves proving who the stronger person is."

"You truly aren't one for fighting are you?"

"Only to the extent," replied Kisho. "Okay, you know what? I have an idea how we can solve this. Yukito don't laugh or make fun of this, this is the only thing that came to mind."

"Oh I so fear this now," groaned Yukito.

It was a few minutes later, both Labramon and Elecmon were still standing across from each other fuming. Kisho was between the two holding off both from attacking each other. Yukito and Penguinmon were sitting away from the three. Yukito looked mildly bored after being briefed on Kisho's plan. He had no idea how that was going to resolve anything but to each his own.

"All right. The two of you are going to be playing tug-a-war. It is still proving just how strong the two of you are. But at least you're not attacking one another and not harming the baby digimon."

"This is so ridiculous," groaned Yukito.

"Hey, no making fun of this, this is all that was coming to mind at the time," Kisho said. "You two ready? On your marks! Get set! Go!"

Labramon and Elecmon automatically ran forward picking up a piece of rope at their mouth and ran to the other side pulling with all their might. Neither one was in the mood to lose to the other. Kisho stood back watching with satisfaction. This seemed to be a better out come then the other way.

'_I'll show him just who the strongest is,' _thought Labramon pulling his hardest.

'_I'll give it to him, the pup is not afraid to back down.'_

"Come on, pull harder. Don't give up. You can do it!"

Labramon narrowed his eyes in determination when he felt Elecmon pull harder on the rope causing him to be lifted on to his hindquarters. Determined now, he pulled with all his might on the rope not wanting to lose.

As Labramon pulled hard Elecmon soon lost his footing causing him to be sent flying up into the air flying into one of a giant rubber block. Labramon looked up at his in after seeing where he went.

"Uh…Elecmon are you okay?" Kisho called out worried.

Yukito lifted his head in time to see Elecmon appear from the block. He didn't look hurt, which was a good sign. Yukito himself was really proud of what the little dog digimon could do.

"Okay, I know when I'm defeated. I give up!"

"The winner and best digimon ever is Labramon." Labramon had on a satisfied smile on his face as he strolled over to Kisho.

Elecmon managed to get himself down from the block and headed over to the others who were still congratulate Labramon.

"You did it kid, you truly are the terror of tug-a-war."

"You know I could take you on again."

"I bet you could, but don't get too cocky. You might want to quit while you're on the top. But I was to apologetic to all of you for the way I acted when you arrived. With all this mess going on I've just been expecting a fight. This of course wasn't fair on your behalf."

"All is forgiven. You know what? It was well worth it too."

"You're a lot stronger than you appear kid. I'm impressed."

"Why thank you. You know as Yukito always says, you can't judge a book by its cover."

"You're absolutely right. I insist that you and your friends stay here and get some rest. You look like you deserve it, especially after the tug-a-war."

"Thank you Elecmon. That is very generous of you."

'Oh thank gods we can sit and relax for a sometime," Yukito sighed with relief.

"Elecmon, how do we get to that mountain?" Kisho asked.

"Infinity Mountain?" questioned Elecmon confused to the odd request.

"Yes," Yukito and Kisho both said.

"You actually want to climb up there?"

"Uh huh."

"That's really not a good idea. The two of you boys don't want to truly deal with the problems up there. It's dangerous. You can get hurt or worse. You seem like such nice kids. I don't know why you want to deal with Devimon. He's an evil digimon bent on destruction."

"Trust us, we know. We feel like personally thanking him for splitting us all apart," Yukito fumed standing up to join Kisho.

"Do the two of you have a death wish?"

"No, just me," Yukito simply responded.

"All I can say, because I know I won't be able to convince you otherwise, be safe and don't get yourselves killed."

"Don't worry we will be."

"Hopefully we can get back with our group again. I bet you anything Yumi is going insane."

"And I can also be back together with my brother."

'_It is only a matter of time before we are all brought back together. Once we are together, the stronger we'll be and the more we'll be able to take out Devimon once and for all,' _thought Yukito looking hopeful up at Infinity Mountain.

'_I can almost see my brother, he'll be so proud of how much I've grown,' though Kisho. 'But I can't help but fear that something horrible is to arise in the near future.'_

**A/N: Holy crap was that ever a long wait. I am so terribly sorry about that. I hope you like it. I'm not going to lie, I followed the show again. There will be times when I do that, we all know this. Chapter thirteen to be up soon.**


	13. Deadly roar brings destruction of evil

**A/N: Hey readers, holy crap, a month between this now? Wow. So anyway, chapter 13 is finally here, everyone is finally back together, yay, hope everyone likes it. One more chapter until a new area of the digiworld…thank god lol. So fingers crossed that I can actually get through this. Once again I like to thank San Child of the wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for their reviews greatly appreciate them. Love to hear from more people, love to read reviews.**

**Disclaimer: Usual thing, I own nothing I only own my characters.**

**Chapter 13**

**Deadly roar brings destruction of evil**

The sun started to set on yet another day in the digital world. Kisho, Yukito, Penguinmon and Labramon were still at the Primary Village helping Elecmon take care of the little ones. Yukito of course was lying on the ground staring up at the sky watching the colours of sunset change. A lot of the baby digimon were climbing over him, curious of who he was. He was far too out of it to even care what was going on.

Kisho on the other hand couldn't help but play with the babies, they were so cute. Labramon and Penguinmon were entertaining a few of the babies, keeping them amused as long as they could.

"Yukito, stop being such a spoil sport."

"No, I'm good. Besides they think I'm a jungle gym anyway."

"You're so lazy."

"Not denying that one."

Kisho shrugged his shoulders as he focused his attention toward the babies once again. One of the Yurimon that was close to him began to shake a light formed over his body. Kisho was both worried and curious as to what was going on. He didn't know what was going on and was getting freaked out.

"Yurimon digivolve to…Tanemon," the little bulb plant like digimon said. "Hello, I'm Tanemon."

"Welcome Tanemon," cried the baby digimon.

"Wow cool," Kisho said impressed.

"What happened?" Yukito asked lifting his head as much as he could.

"The Yurimon digivolved into a Tanemon. I can't believe you missed it."

"Well, sorry if I can't sit up right now."

On a cliff over looking Primary Village stood Flarerizamon grinning viciously as he caught sight of Kisho and Yukito completely oblivious to his existence. They were totally unaware of the danger they were in.

"This is too perfect. I'll be able to finish off the children easily."

In an instant, Flarerizamon's body erupted into a large flame as he started to run down the cliff side. This was going to be his glory moment.

What he didn't realize was someone else was also watching the boys with a close eye on Kisho and Yukito. He could see Flarerizamon charging toward them preparing for an unexpected attack. The digimon narrowed his eyes at the fire digimon, now preparing his own decent down the cliff.

Back at Primary Village Yukito was now acting as a trampoline for some of the baby digimon. Although with his flat stomach it was a surprise for any bounce to be made. Kisho stopped what he was doing and began to laugh as what was going on.

"You think this is funny?" Yukito asked. "Let them jump on you."

"Hey, don't get all up tight, I meant nothing of it."

"All right, all right."

"Uh…Kisho," Labramon said not looking at Kisho.

"What is it?" Kisho asked looking down at Labramon.

"What do you think is wrong with them?" Labramon asked indicating to the babies who seemed to be terrified about something.

"Maybe their hungry?" suggested Kisho.

Something seemed to catch Labramon's attention, his ears perked up and his body tensed with fear.

"Labramon what's wrong?"

"We have trouble!"

"What kind of trouble?" Yukito asked fully sitting up knocking over the babies.

"Flarerizamon!"

"Ah shit!" groaned Yukito now standing up running toward Kisho to protect him.

"Retrieve bark!"

"Ice prism!"

"We have got to get out of here!" Yukito said grabbing hold of Kisho's hand and pulling Kisho to safety. Kisho didn't argue with the suggestion, he ran full speed down the village into the forest. All the baby digimon split off from where the boys were running as Penguinmon and Labramon were trying to hold off Flarerizamon.

"Over here, come on," Yukito said pulling Kisho behind one of the trees. Both had their backs against the wall breathing heavily. There seemed to be no noise of fighting, Yukito held his breath as he waited for something horrible to arise.

Within seconds Labramon and Penguinmon came flying down the path not realizing where their human companions were.

"Penguinmon, over here!" hissed Yukito.

Penguinmon skidded to a halt and turned around forcing Labramon to stop as well. They could see the two boys huddled against the wall terrified. The two digimon shifted their glances to the other side to see Flarerizamon casually walking toward them. A menacing glare was upon his face. Penguinmon shifted his eyes to Yukito praying that he could understand.

'We're being followed,' thought Penguinmon desperately pleading with his eyes that Yukito understood.

Yukito stared blankly at his digimon trying to understand what was going on. He could see something troubling him, but he didn't know what it was.

It didn't take long before the two digimon ran from their spot toward the forest that was close by. Yukito rose his eyebrow at the strange behaviour.

"Don't you want to play?" came Flarerizamon's voice.

"Oh crap, not now," gasped Yukito.

Yukito grabbed hold of Kisho's wrist urging him to move away from their current spot. Kisho at first didn't know what was going on, it seemed like he couldn't hear the danger approaching.

"We have to move," whispered Yukito. Kisho looked up at him startled, he now knew something was terribly wrong.

High above Flarerizamon the strange digimon quickly leaped from one box to another not wanting to get the fire digimon's attention.

"Don't think you can harm these innocent children. Not while I'm here!" the stranger said. "I am Leomon, the soul protector to those who enter the digiworld."

Leomon was not about to let the chosen ones get hurt, even if that meant risking his own life.

While all the chaos at Primary Village was going on, Victoria sat on the back of Kabuterimon along with Robert making their way toward the others. A hopeful looked appeared upon her face as she glanced down upon her digivice. The groups of colour dots slowly appeared along with her digimon's dot. They would soon be reunited after only a day of separation.

She made a note noticing on the device that she would be reunited sooner than she thought. Yumi, Kiva and Tora seemed to be right behind her. It confused her somewhat when she saw that Yumi's dot seemed to disappear for a short time and reappear a little further ahead.

"Yumi, you have no idea how paranoid I've been waiting for you," Victoria silently said grasping the device until her knuckles turned white.

"I have a fear that Yukito and Kisho might be in trouble," Robert said now looking at his own digivice.

"Why do you say that?"

"It seems that they have their hands full with two dark digimon. One seems to be close by to where they are. The other seems to be bidding his time. Unfortunately, I can't get a reading on their digimon," explained Robert examining his device.

"Oh gods, please tell they weren't separated from their partners."

"No, I saw them earlier. I'm not just too sure if the evil digimon are keeping them captive or their formulating a plan."

"Well they better be formulating a plan and not hiding out."

"I wouldn't think those two would abandon Yukito and Kisho for long."

Further away from where Victoria and Robert flew, Yumi, Kiva and Tora continued to make their way across the sea. Yumi was still clinging on to Renamon as she continued to teleport across the sea. Tora still held on to Sunflowmon, who was still just hovering over the water. Kiva seemed to have the easiest ride of simply sitting back and enjoying the ride.

"Okay, what's the plan?" asked Tora.

"Get to shore and get to Yukito and Kisho's side as fast as we can. Either which way we look at this we need to protect Kisho, he is still the youngest and least inexperienced than the rest of us. Besides that, Labramon still hasn't been able to digivolve," Yumi replied.

"Yumi, what about you? You're defenceless without a digimon," Tora asked concerned.

"But not out. I can defend myself against my opponents," Yumi responded determinedly.

"Just as long as your safe," Tora remarked.

"When did you become so concern?" Yumi asked.

"Well, I didn't want you to get hurt, there have been way too many close calls in the past."

'_I think Tora finally lost it,' _thought Kiva to Wolfmon.

'_I agree with you. She never worried before. So why start now?'_

"Guys, up ahead! I can see Kabuterimon. Or at least a faint outline of him," called out Yumi.

"Excellent. No longer shall we be separated."

On the opposite side of Kiva, Tora and Yumi; Mark and James were still on the little block of land heading toward Infinity Mountain. Mark had a very serious look on his face, determined more than ever to locate his brother. Gaomon stood beside him determined to fight by his side. James was anticipating every move over and over again in his head. They needed to be ready.

"I just hope that we'll be able to connect up again before anything bad happens."

"I'm with you. Devimon will pay if he harms my brother."

"Bearmon, are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Remember what the plan was?"

"Get on the island, digivolve and locate Yukito and Kisho."

"Gaomon, what about you?"

"I'm just as ready. Don't worry friend, we'll find your brother and get him to safety."

Back at Primary Village Yukito and Kisho still sat behind one of the boxes terrified. Penguinmon was able to defend off Flarerizamon while Labramon rejoined with Kisho.

"Sorry Kisho. I didn't want him to find you."

"It's all right. Just as long as we're together again."

As the three watched Penguinmon try his hardest to ward off Flarerizamon, something seemed to come over Yukito. In a matter of seconds Penguinmon was sent flying toward them.

"Penguinmon, are you okay?" Yukito called.

"I'll be okay. But I think help has arrived."

"Huh?"

Yukito and Kisho looked up confused by what Penguinmon was referring to. At first they thought that their friends had arrived but looking now they could see a tall, built lion holding a sword looking pissed off. He wasn't fooling around whatsoever as he stared down Flarerizamon, who didn't seem unmoved.

"You think you can handle me kitty cat?" taunted Flarerizamon.

"I will not allow anyone to harm the children."

"That is mighty wishful thinking kitty. But I accept your challenge."

"Who's that, Labramon?"

"That's Leomon, but don't worry, he's a good digimon."

"Okay kiddies, where are you?" called out Reptiledramon.

Yukito and Kisho's eyes widened as their breath caught in their throats. He didn't sound far from them. Glimpsing around the corner both boys could see Reptiledramon holding a terrified looking Poyomon.

"How about you get your butts out here so I can get a good look at you! 'Cause if you don't, your little friends going to squeak its last squeak."

"Yukito, we can't just let him hurt him. What do we do?" Kisho asked, panic in his voice.

"First of all, we need to stay calm. Second of all we need to come up with a plan. Penguinmon, how are you feeling?" Yukito asked taking charge.

"Better."

"Good. When I say so, Labramon I want you to take Kisho to a safe area within the trees. Penguinmon I want you to digivolve into your champion form to distract Reptiledramon while I get Poyomon," Yukito explained. "What do you three say?"

"Sounds great."

"Yukito, I want to stay and help you," Kisho pleaded.

"You are helping by staying out of the way," Yukito explained resting his hand upon Kisho's shoulder.

"All right, Labramon, go take Kisho and run. Penguinmon digivolve!"

Labramon pulled on Kisho's shirt and pulled him toward the safety of the forest. Penguinmon could feel the light from the digivice as he began to digivolve into his champion form.

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon!"

"I'm waiting!"

"Well, wait no longer!" Yukito said stepping from behind the block to face Reptiledramon.

"Ha. I knew you couldn't resist protecting him. But I see what no one is going to be protecting you."

"That's where you are wrong! Pulse blast!" Dolphmon appeared above the block, a beam forming from its mouth ready to attack the unsuspecting Reptiledramon. With him now distracted, Yukito took the advantage and ran over to the cyborg digimon swiping the Poyomon from his grasp. Everything worked in a synchronized movement. Once the little digimon was safe in Yukito's hands and Yukito jumping out of the way, Dolphmon sent out his power sound wave.

The blast sent Reptiledramon flying from his spot landing on the ground a few feet away from them. Yukito looked up grinning at Dolphmon.

"Good work buddy."

"Don't think you're getting away that easy."

Reptiledramon was already on his feet charging up for an attack. Yukito was in shock, he didn't know what to do. Dolphmon saw this and knocked Yukito to the ground as the attack was sent toward the cyborg.

In the forest, Kisho was watching in horror as Reptiledramon kept up his attacks on Dolphmon and Yukito. On the other side he could see Leomon fighting Flarerizamon. It seemed like Leomon was able to hold his own, but Flarerizamon was not back down.

"Labramon, we have to help them, there is no way they'll be able to do this on their own."

"I know. But we can't do anything," Labramon replied. _'I feel so useless, I can't help Yukito and I can't protect Kisho if anything should happen.'_

"Diamond storm!"

Kisho could see Renamon appear out of no where attacking Reptiledramon, helping Dolphmon. His face lit up knowing that Victoria couldn't be far behind.

"Kisho, where did Flarerizamon go?" asked Labramon staring at the spot where Leomon and Flarerizamon were fighting only seconds ago. Now Leomon stood there looking around.

"Now I've got you."

"I don't think so," Yumi said jumping from one of the branches above Kisho, blocking Flarerizamon's path.

"Oh is that so? Whose going to protect you?"

"I don't need protecting." Turning around, Yumi picked up Kisho and ran from the spot with Labramon at her heels. Flarerizamon was furious, he was tricked. But as he went to chase after her, Wolfmon stepped in his way growling viciously.

"Easy puppy, no need to get angry."

"Harming my friends, not the greatest idea! Wolf blast!"

Leomon made his way toward Wolfmon who was attacking Flarerizamon with great strength.

"Fist of the beast king!" Leomon shouted aiming directly for Flarerizamon. Wolfmon saw this and dodged the attack.

'_Wolfmon are you all right?' _Kiva asked from one of the branches.

"Yeah. But I think we have company."

Wolfmon went back on the defence when Leomon made his way toward him. At first he wasn't sure if he could trust him or no, sure he helped him out with taking down Flarerizamon, but who was to say that he wouldn't harm him?

Leomon placed his hand on the handle of the sword ready to take it out in a quick movement. Wolfmon braced himself as he felt his body tense up ready to attack.

Kiva looked down at the scene, worried about her friend's safety. From where she sat she could see more than just the two digimon. Behind Wolfmon, Flarerizamon was getting to his feet ready to attack the unsuspecting digimon. Wolfmon on the other hand wasn't understanding the problem.

'_Wolfmon, Leomon isn't going to hurt you! Behind you, Flarerizamon is on the move!'_ warned Kiva. She stood on the branch, her hand resting on the tree as she balanced herself.

"Sunflowmon, go and help Wolfmon!" commanded Tora also standing up getting the hint from Kiva.

"Right!"

Sunflowmon headed to the ground joining Wolfmon and Leomon, the three prepared themselves for the attack against Flarerizamon who didn't know when to back down.

"Ganging up on me now, huh? That's fine with me! Raging inferno!"

"Fist of the beast king!"

"Wolf blast!"

"Sunshine beam!"

All three digimon sent out their attacks, combining them together destroying Flarerizamon's attack and sending his flying further into the forest. Kiva and Tora jumped from the branch landing on the ground. Kiva landed gently on her feet, while Tora fell straight on her butt.

"You must be the chosen ones," Leomon said to the girls.

"Uh…yeah, sure, whatever you say," Tora said, not really knowing what to say to that.

Kiva elbowed Tora in the arm and glared at her. It wasn't a glare to shut her up, it was more of a glare telling her he was right.

"I apologize, Tora here doesn't full understand what's going on," Wolfmon said in a trance.

"Ah, so you're the one who speaks for the child," Leomon said in an understanding voice.

"Yes, I am."

"So now what?"

"We need to help Renamon and Dolphmon with their battle with Reptiledramon. And also figure out where Mark and James are."

Renamon stood her ground glaring at Reptiledramon, who had the same challenging glare. Dolphmon was at her side analyzing their next move. It seemed like no one wanted to be the first to go. Yukito stood behind the two digimon watching contently at the scene, like his partner, he was analyzing the situation and figure what the best move would be.

"Renamon, digivolve, you'll be stronger against him," whispered Dolphmon without taking his eyes off of Reptiledramon.

"I would if I could. I'm minus a partner who is the key in that department."

"Less chatting, more action!" Reptiledramon sneered.

"I was going to say the same thing. Diamond storm!"

"Pulse blast!"

The attacks crashed into one another cancelling each other out. Reptiledramon didn't seem too amused, he wanted the digidestined and their digimon out of the way and destroyed at all cost. Renamon refused to back down, there was no way this digimon was going to win. She still kicked herself for being separated from her partner but knew somewhere deep inside of her she'll be reunited with Victoria.

"Dolphmon, listen to me, I have a plan. But we have to move fast. Go from the sides, and attack at once, but we're going to need a distraction."

"Hey lizard breath, over here!" called out Kabuterimon.

Turning their attention toward the voice, only feet away form where they stood, Kabuterimon hovered in the air with Robert kneeling on his back. Victoria jumped to the ground and ran toward her digimon her digivice in her hand.

"Renamon, digivolve!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"That's better to see," Dolphmon said.

"Let's do this while he's distracted," Kyubimon said dashing to the left while Dolphmon headed to the right. Reptiledramon was becoming overly impatient by the perseverance of Kabuterimon.

"Why don't you come down here and face me bug boy?"

"Don't like the fact that you can't reach me?"

"That's it!"

"Dragon wheel!"

"Ice prism!"

Kyubimon began to spin at top speed bringing with it a surge of fire. Dolphmon sent out a beam of ice, both attacks aiming toward Reptiledramon, who was hit hard.

"Now that's what I call teamwork," Victoria acknowledged nodding toward her partner.

Kabuterimon and Robert both landed safely on the ground next to Victoria, Yukito, Kyubimon and Dolphmon. Robert jumped off of Kabuterimon and ran toward Victoria and Yukito.

"It's so good to see you again," Yukito said giving Robert a hug.

"Same here, I don't want to be separated from you again. Oh we have some great news about the digivices…first of all, where's Mark, James and Yumi?"

"That I don't know."

Just outside the forest by Primary Village, Yumi put Kisho back on the ground knowing that safety was around them. She could feel her heart racing from the running and holding on to Kisho. She looked around at her surroundings and took everything in. She knew there was a reason to get rid of this evil digimon.

"Yumi, what are we going to do now?" Kisho asked standing at her side.

"We wait for the signal. We just have to hold on for just another little while. For now, we are safe here. I'm sure your brother will find us anyway."

"I still don't understand why we have to hide."

"Because, I don't have a digimon and Labramon hasn't been able to digivolve yet. So our safe bet right now is to keep away from the fight and wait."

Kisho stared down at the sight where the fight was taking place. Worry took over him in a heart beat. He knew Yumi was right, but he wanted to prove himself, that he could fight, he could handle himself.

"Kisho! Where are you?!" a voice called several minutes later. It was far in the distance, close to the forest. Kisho perked his head up to get a better look as to what was going on.

"KISHO!"

"I hear my brother, Mark must be getting close," Kisho exclaimed excitedly to Labramon and Yumi.

"I think it's a good sign then."

"Mark, we're over here!" called Kisho.

There was a moment of silence, at first Kisho thought that Mark didn't hear him. But within seconds, Mark's voice reached their ears.

"Kisho, I'm coming buddy."

"I can't believe it, we're going to be all reunited again."

Yumi didn't say anything, but she had a good feeling in the pit of her stomach that things would turn out great.

Running footsteps could be heard through the forest coming straight for them. Yumi and Kisho turned their heads to see Mark riding on Gaogamon and James riding Grizzlymon.

"Brother!"

"Hey Kisho, it is so good to see you," Mark said jumping off of Gaogamon.

"Good to see you too."

"Where are the others?" asked James.

"Back over there," Yumi replied pointing toward the spot where the battle took place. "I took Kisho away form there so he could be in a safe place."

"Thank you Yumi," Mark said.

"I think we should go back and see what's going on," suggested Kisho.

"We probably should, it's a safe bet that everything is back to normal," Yumi said looking at her digivice to see a clutter of multi colour dots on her screen minus the two red ones.

Back at the other side everyone gathered around Leomon with their digimon. There was so much that he knew about their purpose of being there than they did.

"Where are the other digidestined?"

"Um…hopefully on their way. Yumi took Kisho to a safe spot. Kisho's digimon Labramon hasn't been able to digivolve and she doesn't have hers," explained Victoria.

"Why are you talking about us behind our backs?" asked Yumi standing next to Victoria and Kiva.

"Just telling Leomon here what's been going on."

"Come, there's much to tell."

Everyone sat in front of a large tree in the shade facing Leomon, who was sitting against the tree itself.

"According to an ancient legend, our world will be taken over by a strange dark force that will change good digimon into bad ones. Our ancestors have predicted that a group of children called the Digidestined will appear from another world. When they arrive they will come to possess super powers that will eventually save our world from destructions. I believe their prediction has come true. File Island has been seized by an evil power, we're in danger of destruction and now, you've appeared," explained Leomon.

"How can you be even sure we are the ones the prophecy foretold about?" asked Yumi sceptically.

"It's been foretold that the digidestined have the ability to make digimon digivolve. You've done that and that's all the proof I need."

"I still don't fully believe that it could be true, but if it maybe the case then we need to prepare for an attack," Victoria said.

"I believe that if we defeat the evil on this island then we'll be able to return to our world. I don't see any reason for us to remain in this world after our purpose is fulfilled," Robert replied.

"Awesome, I'll be able to change outfits at last," Tora said leaning back.

"That is why you bring them with you."

"But how can we make that happen?" James asked, he tilted his head toward Infinity Mountain. "We don't ever know who is causing it and what kind of power we have to expect by it."

"You see, Devimon is the main cause of all this evil. To save the island, you're going to have to defeat him," Leomon said.

Yumi and Victoria both stood up determinedly, scanning the group before them. Yumi held a sense of power leading to leadership. Victoria seemed to hold a power of a sergeant ready to put her crew through an obstacle course.

"I, for one, want to get this over with. With or without a digimon, we need to protect those who can't. I'm sure if we put our strength together we'll be able to defeat him."

"I don't know. What happens if we can't?" asked James sceptically.

"Look, with all my dealings with my trainers I've learned one thing. There is no such thing as can't."

"She's right you know, we are stronger together," Bearmon responded standing up.

"We are stronger in numbers than we are divided. Let's show him what we're made of!" Penguinmon declared.

"I agree. Let's do it!"

"All right then, troops, let's get to it!"

'_Excellent, we can soon be back to reality,'_ Kiva thought to Puppymon and as she lipped to her friends.

The eighteen turned their heads toward the mountain, a sigh escaping the triplets' mouth, they knew deep down something bad was going to happen and there maybe a slim chance that not everyone was going to make it out.

While the three kept their eyes upon the mountain, Leomon led the others toward a boat by the shore. Renamon and Puppymon tried their hardest to get their attention to get to the boat.

"You're going to be left behind if you keep staring at the mountain."

"We have a plan," Yumi said, more to the small group. "Guys, wait up, we need to figure out strategy!" Yumi called running after the others with Victoria and Kiva right behind her.

"Those fools, do they truly think that they would be able to defeat me? I am Devimon, Dark ruler of this island!" Devimon sneered staring down at Flarerizamon and Reptiledramon.

"Yeah boss, you are too powerful to destroy," Flarerizamon said.

"Enough, it is time those pitiful humans got what was coming to them."

"Right boss."

Devimon smirked wickedly as he stretched out his arm toward the two digimon before him. The two were in shock, they had no clue as to what was going to happen to them. Instantly, the two turned into black gears and started to spin around Devimon before entering his body.

"Hear this Digidestined, I am unstoppable now, my powers are infinite!" Devimon gloated as he spread his arms wide open summoning more black gears from the separated islands.

Outside, all the black gears from the broken parts of the island began to fly toward him. It was definitely going to be a miracle to defeat him.

On the cliff, the seven digidestined plus the seven digimon made their way up the side of the cliff, Yumi, Victoria, and Renamon were at the front of the line, further ahead then Leomon. Their eyes scanning their surroundings for any problems that were going to arise. Behind Leomon were Yukito, Robert, Kisho, James and Tora along with their digimon. Mark and Kiva had went another way. It was all part of Yumi's plan.

"Devimon is very powerful. He's brought nothing but trouble to File Island, we must be careful," Leomon advised. It was the second time he had cautioned the ground to stay careful. Yumi's mind continued to spin with their plan of actions. She still didn't know if it was going to work.

~Flashback~

Yumi finally caught up with the others followed by Victoria and Kiva.

"Before we go in there blindly, we need to come up with a strategy. My thought is to have two of us split off once we get to the other side and head up another way encase something goes wrong when we encounter Devimon. I don't care who the two are, just remember that excludes Kisho and I for good reason. While the two go one way, the rest of us head up the cliff. When we get to the top, we immediately get the digimon to digivolve to prepare for an attack. I have no doubt in my mind that Flarerizamon and Reptiledramon will still be causing mayhem around here," explained Yumi.

"I volunteer, I can easily keep a look out, and I have Puppymon," Kiva said through Puppymon.

"I'll go with her. With both our digimon wolf types, we'll be strong together," Mark replied.

"Okay, Kiva, you up with that?" Yumi asked.

Kiva nodded her head as she turned her head to Mark and gave another sharp nod. Both ran down the path toward the water.

~End flashback~

"Well, we can't turn back know." "Aren't you just full of good news," Yumi scoffed looking over her shoulder.

As the group continued their walk up the path, a crash could be heard on top of the mountain. A giant version of Devimon broke the roof off the castle. As he began to stand up his wings stretched out causing the children to gasp.

"Holy shit, we're dead!" Yumi gasped.

"Is that Devimon?" asked Kisho.

"I never expected his to be that huge!" Lalamon said.

"All villains believe that bigger they are the harder it is to destroy," James said.

"Afraid not! That power that Devimon has is immense, so be careful!" cautioned Leomon.

Yumi and Victoria braced themselves as they watched Devimon crouch down to take lift off into the air and slowly waft down to the ground. A wicked smirk on his face.

"He's here!" Victoria said in a sing-song voice.

The others turn around just as Devimon lands in the trees. Fear rushed through their veins as the plan began to fade from their hands. Seeing how big he was, there was no way they could win.

"Renamon, I believe it is time digivolve," Victoria said in a semi calm voice.

"Right!"

Just as Renamon went to digivolve, Devimon turned around to face the doomed digidestined. The strong wind from his wings forced them against the cliff hard. Without having time to think, Devimon held out his hand issuing a dark energy beam shooting it toward them.

To the digidestined it felt as if their life force was being drained from their bodies. It was useless to fight, or attack. Their bodies were becoming too weak. Leomon took out his sword ready to attack Devimon. He kept the blade in front of his face hoping to defend against the dark energy. Within seconds, Devimon put Leomon into the beam.

"You are fools! Don't expect me to play silly games with you, I'm far too wise for that."

Above them, Kiva, Puppymon, Mark and Gaomon were looking down at the situation at hand. They knew that both needed to act fast. Kiva was the first to look at Puppymon and Mark. She gave a quick nod to the two of them as Mark turned to Gaomon, who was already standing at attention ready for orders.

"Digivolve!"

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

The two dog type digimon digivolved into their next stages. One a black wolf, the other a white and blue one. They both stood there at the same height staring at their partners ready to go.

Kiva and Mark got the idea as both hopped on their backs making their way down the path toward the others. Mark and Kiva both knew the plan, get off their digimon when they reached half way from the chaos.

Kiva and Puppymon were ahead of Mark preparing to take lead. Since Kiva couldn't talk, her best bet was to have Wolfmon attack first with Mark behind warning the others, while Gaogamon attacked as well.

"Are you ready?" Wolfmon asked.

'_Do I truly have to answer that?'_ Kiva thought back to him as she slowly began to balance herself on top of Wolfmon's back.

"Mark, are you prepared my friend?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

With the two of them splitting up, Mark and Kiva jumped from their digimon's back and landed safely on the ground. Kiva landed squarely on her right side, but no actual pain went through her. She only stayed on the ground for two seconds before scrambling to her feet charging down the hill toward the other destineds.

Mark on the other hand landed on his back pretty hard, but not enough to put him in a concussion. He started to cough as he opened his eyes allowing the air to go back into his lungs.

"Spiral blow!"

Gaogamon jump into the air, a start of a tornado formed in his mouth as he came closer to Devimon. The attack was affective enough tot stop the beam.

"Wolf blast!"

Wolfmon came from the other side of Devimon sending out a strong silvery-white fire-like flame from his mouth catching him off guard.

Both Kiva and Mark ran toward their friends from either side. The others turned their heads when they heard the running footsteps.

"Hurry up guys, while he's distracted. We need to attack now!" Mark called.

"Digivolve now!" shouted Victoria turning around to face the other digimon as well as her own.

"Right! Let's go everyone, ready?" Renamon asked.

"Right behind you," replied Bearmon. Penguinmon, Lalamon and Tentomon nodded their heads.

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Kyubimon, show him what you're made of!" yelled Victoria.

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon!"

"Go Dolphmon!"

"Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Remember, you might look gorgeous but you have a strong warrior spirit!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Take him down Grizzlymon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"This just keep getting better and better!"

"Crescent moon!"

"Ice Prism!"

Both attacks mingled together hitting him directly in the chest, but not enough to take him down. Devimon simply swatted Dolphmon directly into Grizzlymon. Yukito and James turned sharply toward their digimon worried. Devimon was not one to be reckon with. They couldn't underestimate him, not now, not when they needed this victory.

"Your attacks are pitiful! I'm afraid you'll have to fight harder than that!"

"Dragon wheel!"

"Sunshine beam!"

"Electro shocker!"

Kyubimon's body turned into a ball of swirling blue fire, while Sunflowmon's face began to glow as a powerful blast of solar beam erupted. Kabuterimon sent out an electrical ball, which all connected with the dragon spirit that formed from Kyubimon's body.

"Give up, you fools, it's useless," Devimon said swatting away Kyubimon knocking her into the other two digimon.

"No! Sunflowmon!"

"Come on, Kabuterimon, get up!"

"Kyubimon, please don't give up!" screamed Victoria, panic filling her entire body as she ran toward her fallen digimon.

Leomon forced himself to his feet as his hand grasped the handle of his sword. He was no going to stand by watching the chosen ones get killed.

"You're mine now!"

As Leomon began to charge toward Devimon, Reptiledramon and Flarerizamon both popped out of Devimon's legs. Flarerizamon on the right, Reptiledramon on the left.

"You two!"

"There's now way you can take us kitty!" Flarerizamon said.

"Just give it up, you have no chance!" replied Reptiledramon.

Leomon stared up at them fuming, as a low growl erupted from his throat, a dark energy knocked his into the trees. Yumi's eyes followed Leomon as he cleared the first set of trees.

Devimon laughed wickedly as he watched the only savour to the destineds leave. In his hand he held a squirming Wolfmon who tried desperately to bite Devimon's fingers.

"You're not worth my time!"

'_Wolfmon!'_ yelled Kiva mentally.

"Out of my sight!" Devimon boomed carelessly throwing him into Gaogamon.

Yumi stared in horror at all the fallen digimon, there was a gap between her and Kisho and she needed to close that gap to protect him. The two of them were the only ones unprotected.

Gaogamon, Wolfmon and Kyubimon forced themselves to their feet, ready to take on Devimon again. It also gave Yumi the ability to get over to Kisho without getting attacked.

"Dragon wheel!"

"Wolf blast!"

"Gaoga hou…"

As Kyubimon spun in the air creating the dragon, Yumi got her chance and ran as fast as she could to Kisho's side. It didn't take long though till Devimon swatted the three into each other hitting the dirt hard.

"No!"

"Oh god. Nobody left, there's nobody left," panicked Kisho. "Labramon what do we do?"

"Kisho, I'm here. Listen, we stick together got it?" Yumi said kneeling beside him.

Devimon turned to the three of the cliff causing Yumi to stand up and stand in front of Kisho and Puppymon.

"Now to get rid of the two of you. Then I shall have nothing to fear! They say the smallest will destroy me, and then there's the weak link. The destined not to possess a digimon. How perfect is that? You should have stayed away from this place and left the fighting to the real fighters. You are a useless and worthless girl, you have nothing to prove here."

Yumi held fast the brave front for as long as she could, but she knew that he was right, she was worthless. There was nothing for her here. Her body shook with frustration.

"Yumi, don't listen to him. We do need you," Kisho whispered.

"No worry, I will finish the two of you off. Don't move, make it easy on both of us!" Devimon reached out his hand toward Yumi and Kisho. Yumi wrapped her arms completely around Kisho's back in hopes of protecting him. They were both doomed no matter how they looked at it unless Labramon decided to get to his next stage.

Mark wasted no time in running toward his brother with Gaogamon right behind him.

"Yumi, Kisho, run!" Mark yelled as Gaogamon jumped into the air and bit down on Devimon's hand.

Yumi released her grip on Kisho and grabbed hold of his hand before tugging him to move away from the scene. As she ran she noticed through her peripheral vision all the other digimon attacking Devimon in one move. They were minuscule compared to him. At least this was a distraction to get away from Devimon. Labramon was right on their heels trying his hardest to keep up with them.

"You have all seem to forget I am Devimon, supreme master of this island."

"Yada, yada, yada. That's all villains do, they have to gloat about everything. Kisho, down!"

A black barrier leaves Devimon's body knocking everyone down to the ground away from him, as well as sending Kisho, Yumi and Labramon flying against the wall hard. The others lie motionless on the ground, all of the children close to their digimon.

"I never expected that much power to be used," groaned Victoria as she struggled to sit up. Kyubimon could only lift her head just enough to look at Victoria before resting it back on the ground.

"I feel like I just did a two hour workout. Everything is too sore to move."

"This is terrible…"

"Help!" yelled Kisho.

Mark and Victoria turned their heads toward the location of Kisho and Yumi. Yumi was still lying on the ground unconscious, Kisho was kneeling next to her shaking her arm trying to wake her up. Labramon stood in a protective pose in front of the two ready to strike.

"You're mine now!"

The others watched in horror as Devimon reached down to take Kisho and Yumi. There was nothing that any of them could do. Labramon began to growl as the hand got closer.

"Retriever bark!"

There was no affect whatsoever. He tried again and again, but to the same disappointment. It was frustrating on him that nothing was working.

"I have to protect Kisho and Yumi. But how? Devimon is so much bigger, I'll never be able to take him."

He continued to watch as Devimon's hand got closer. Kisho let out a whimper of fear as he watched the hand come closer. Yumi opened her eyes hearing him and wrapped her arms around him bringing him into a hug.

"It's going to be okay. I promise, everything will be fine," Yumi promised. Both knew that it was an empty promise, but it was the only thing giving Kisho peace of mind.

"I don't get it! Why won't I digivolve? All the others have been able to, so why can't I?"

"Kisho, just hang on buddy, I've got you."

"Labramon, help!" yelled Kisho.

Turning toward the two, Labramon realized just how close Devimon was getting. Without hesitation Labramon ran toward his friends to help protect them one way or another.

Yumi, who had her eyes shut and head resting on Kisho's back, looked up to see that Devimon's hand had closed around something. Devimon stood there smirking feeling victorious.

"What?" questioned Devimon staring at his fist as a bright light began to shoot from the cracks in his fist. Devimon released the light with a scream of pain.

The other digidestined gasped in amazement at the sight. Yumi and Kisho were stunned.

"What's going on?" asked Tora.

"What is it?" James inquired.

"Labramon, he's digivolving," Yumi said in awe.

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

"Wicked, Labramon finally digivolved."

Labramon went from having white fur with pink ears, a pink tail, and big gold nails to having all black fur on the top with brown fur on the underbelly. The once natural long pink ears now were black cropped ear. The long pink tail as well now became a docked tail. He now resembled a Doberman pinscher on guard duty. On all sides of his legs were red orbs where the knee caps were. Around his neck was a large spike collar. Its nails on all four paws were long and deadly.

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva all stared up at him in awe of the new appearance. Who knew that such an innocent creature like Labramon could turn into such a dark one such as Dobermon.

"I want that collar!" Victoria announced.

"Who knew he had it in him."

"Where can I get that collar?"

"That is one sweet dog," Kisho breathed impressed.

"That is Dobermon is a Beast Digimon. When he is Vaccine, he is a cruel hunter who repels Virus-class for the sake of being. His special attacks are a roar that seals the enemies' power, 'Growl Realm', and a black beam that goes through the enemies' body, 'Schwartz Strahl'.

Dobermon stood on the high cliff staring at Devimon with pure hatred. How dare this digimon attack the children and harm his partner?

"What's this? Another foolish attempt?" question Devimon.

"Harming my friends, you will not get away with that."

Devimon laughed in his face. Was he actually serious? A puny size digimon like Dobermon actually go up against a giant digimon such as himself? It was ridiculous. Growling could be heard coming from Dobermon as a strong gust of wind picked up around him from the ground up. His cropped ears stood up more in an alert style. He meant business, and there was only one way to deal with the likes of him.

"Do you truly think that you'll be able to do any harm to me?" Devimon laughed.

"Your powers have gotten out of control and must be extinguished once and for all! Schwartz Strahl!"

A black beam erupted form his mouth aiming directly for Devimon's chest sending Flarerizamon and Reptiledramon through the back leaving a large gaping hole in his chest. Dobermon smirked at his soon to be victory.

"Now you've done it!"

Dobermon arched his back as a rumbling sound could be heard from his throat. Devimon was going to survive no longer. Yumi stood there with her hands on Kisho's shoulder watching with amusement.

"You are very lucky Kisho!"

"I just hope he'll be okay."

Yumi watched as Devimon reached toward Dobermon. A smile crept upon Dobermon's lips. A dark laugh escaped his throat as he let out a loud roar escape him.

"Growl realm!"

The roar seemed to have an affect of sealing Devimon, but Dobermon wasn't finished yet. He sent out another black beam toward Devimon, this time with more of a deadly consequence. Devimon let out a scream as the dark light was sent across the island. Devimon slowly disappeared into a purple energy from the feet up.

"That wasn't very smart of you Dobermon, using up all your energy like that! Now you are useless to everyone, especially to your human."

Dobermon also started to slowly disappear into dark energy around his paws. But it didn't seem to faze him.

"Evil is everywhere, so don't saviour your victory. There are other digimon that are just as powerful as I am. Some of them are even stronger. I wonder what you'll do when you run into them. You haven't won at all! Such a waste!" Devimon laughed manically as he disappeared completely.

Dobermon was body was already half vanished by now, only the front half remained. Kisho fought again the strength of Yumi's hands on his shoulder. He wanted to be with Dobermon, even in his last moments.

"Kisho…I promise you…I'll always be by your side!"

Kisho continued to struggle against Yumi as tears welled up in his eyes. Yumi dropped to her knees to be at his level.

"How could I have lost him already, he only just got to digivolve."

"Kisho, you need to be strong, Dobermon wouldn't want you to show weakness," Yumi whispered in his ear as she now wrapped her arms around his chest and gave him a hug.

The black spike choker Dobermon wore fell to the ground in front of Kisho and Yumi. Kisho looked up to see the collar slowly start to take shape as a white egg with black and purple designs.

"What do you know, it's a digi-egg!" commented Bearmon as everyone circled around Kisho and Yumi.

"Do you think it's Dobermon?" Kisho asked.

"There is no doubt about it," Yumi replied.

"He's just resting right now, that's all," Tentomon reassured.

"You'll see him again," Mark commented.

Kisho crawled over to the egg and held it close to him. He refused to let go of the only thing that bounded him and Labramon.

"Hey look everyone. The island is coming back together again," pointed out Tora.

"Exactly! Devimon's been defeated, the evil is eliminated, the island returns to its original state," explained Robert.

"What's with those other digimon across the sea?" asked Yukito.

"Yeah, I though we were going home." It wasn't a question.

"Well, we always can't have our own way. You all heard what Leomon said about the legend. We need to do this," Yumi said.

"Hey, what's going on?" inquired Victoria staring at the ground.

Rocks disassembled before them revealing a small technological looking device built into the ground. The triplets and Yukito raised their eyebrows in wonder as the others all ooh and ah as a rainbow beam of energy appeared from the center. In seconds, a holographic old man appeared in the beam.

"I've heard of you kids, I must say, I'm pleased," the old man said.

"Okay, who are you and what do you want?" Yumi asked all pleasantries aside.

**A/N: First of all, yay! Labramon finally digivolved. Second of all, yes, I basically used the same dialect, and the same basic concept from the show. So all my rant and raving of 'no, it's not following the show' yeah that is becoming a lie. To an extent. So yes, Labramon had the same consequences as Patamon. But I thought that every story should have a sacrifice somewhere. If anyone wants to see anything new or wants something else to happen, please feel free to leave a message. Basically what I mean is do you want me to continue following along with the show, or do you want me to change it up a little bit? You reviews are very gracious.**


	14. Yumi's past and new lands

**A/N: Hey everyone, glad you liked the last chapter, sorry that it seemed rushed. I think that I just wanted to get it over with lol. So there's the new chapter. I had fun with this chapter. A little heads up a lot of the characters change their attitudes around somewhat. I don't go far into Yumi's past, but I will be dedicating a full chapter to that with this book or a later one. I'll be putting more details into her story later. Anyway, off topic, so if anyone remembers with Yukito, he is gay. If anyone hasn't guessed yet, he is dating Robert. Their love relationship expands more later in the story. Thanks again to San Child of the wolves and White hunter for your reviews.**

Chapter 14

Yumi's past and new lands

Monologue: Yumi

_With all the craziness that was going on already in the digital world, this truly took the cake. Since arriving in the digital world, we thought that we were the only humans in this place, but now this? It couldn't be possible._

"So you children are the digidestined. It truly is an honour to meet you. You must be strong to have defeated Devimon."

"Sorry to sound rude, but who are you? And what do you want?" Yumi asked annoyed. All her frustration was truly getting to get. Being stuck in an unknown place for so long was not her favourite thing. She had multiple choices on her hands; snap at her friends and the other digidestined for no apparent reason, or wait until something else showed up. Now, with this old man there, she had her chance. Her friends knew better than to stop her.

"My name is Gennai; I am a friend to all who seek it and an enemy to those who choose it."

"I still can't believe that there is another human here side from us," commented Victoria astonished.

"How come you never tried to contact us before hand?" Yumi asked.

"I couldn't send you this transmission during the battle with Devimon, but now the lines are clear."

"Where exactly are you?" Robert asked.

"I am speaking to you far away from File Island, cross the ocean on the continent of Server."

"How long have you been here?" Tora asked taking the chance to ask a question.

"Since the beginning and to after the end."

'_Great, he likes talking in cryptic,' _thought Kiva and Yumi.

"Are you the one who got us stuck here in the digital world?" asked Yukito.

"It was not I."

"Then who was it?" demanded James.

"It was…I don't know."

Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and Yukito all rolled their eyes as the others groaned in frustration.

"Mr. Gennai, sir, do you know what we need to do so we can get back home again?" piped up Kisho.

"No, I don't," answered Gennai.

"You just love giving these quick answers don't you? This is becoming very annoying very fast," Yumi snapped.

Gennai turned to her, an air of annoyance surrounding his stature. He never thought he ever encounter such an arrogant child like herself. Yumi stood there with her arms folded over her chest looking furious.

"Sorry I can't be of more help. But you can be of help to me."

"How so?" Kiva and Puppymon asked.

"Please come to server and defeat our enemies. As the digidestined I have faith in you."

"That's crazy; we have no idea where your exact location is."

"Good point. I forgot you were from out of town. Let me create a map for you on your laptop."

"Okay, so what happens if your enemies are a lot bigger than that of these ones?" asked James.

"Do you still think we'll be able to defeat anything other than Devimon?" asked Mark sceptically.

"Not presently, but if your digimon can digivolve once more you might be able to do it."

"Oh great, just one more thing I'm going to be left behind about. It's bad enough that everyone has a digimon, and is able to digivolve to champion, but now a new level? Great!"

"So, it'll be possible for us to digivolve further?" asked Gaomon.

"Yes, but you'll need something special to do it."

Gennai disappeared from the transmission, revealing a tag and crest in the next transmission.

"If you have the tags and crests, you're digimon will be able to digivolve even further."

"Where can we find these tags and crests?" Renamon asked.

"Well, the crests are scattered about, you can locate them all throughout the continent of server. And the tags were secretly sealed away somewhere by Devimon."

"Tell me something. Why is it that I am the only one not to have a digimon? Are you the reason why I'm going on this journey solo?" Yumi asked.

"That's something that I can't answer. But I am sure you'll find what you are looking for soon. No!"

The kids and their digimon stopped confused as to what was happening. The transmission was starting to flicker from existence.

"You must come immediately. Agh! Come quickly. I'll be waiting on Server!"

The transmission ended leaving the kids to stand there more confused than ever.

"He's gone," James said.

"Gennai's transmission ended rather abruptly," Tentomon said.

"Well, at least he was able to send the map through before he got cut off," Robert noted typing on his keyboard.

"What's our next move going to be?" Victoria asked looking back and forth between everyone's face.

"We have to go. No doubt about it. We need to head to the other side and defeat those other digimon," Yumi answered, her voice low. She already felt torn and broken hearted about not knowing any more information about her digimon.

"I say we think it through first before we do anything rash. First we eat, and then we come up with a plan."

Yumi turned away from the group and stormed away, it was childish, yes, but she had to distract herself from yelling at them. There was so much that she could hold back.

Victoria and Kiva stared at the group in disbelief. They all knew that Yumi was yearning to search for her digimon, to finally have a bond that everyone seemed to have with their own digimon. Now they were crushing that dream, by denying the move.

"What?" asked James dumbfounded.

"You're incredible. Server is probably the only place that might have the location of her digimon and your keeping away from that chance."

"She said it herself that she might have located her digimon here on File island."

"Was she able to locate her digimon? No! I'm with her for heading to the new area."

Victoria and Kiva stormed off heading toward the location of Yumi, leaving the others to stare at them shocked.

"Nicely done guys," Yukito said turning away and stalking off.

"Not you too?"

Yumi sat on a flat rock with her arms wrapped around her shins as she rested her head on her knees. A gentle rushing of water could be heard form the nearby waterfall. Anger still coursing through her veins as she stared endlessly at the clear water yearning to disappear under the depths and be over all this torment. She was getting fed up with all the constant arguing and denying of discovery.

"You okay?" asked Victoria concerned sitting next to Yumi on her left side. Kiva took the right as the two digimon took the spot in front of Yumi.

"What would the two of you do if you were in my position? If neither of you got Puppymon or Renamon? But you knew that somewhere they were waiting for you?"

"Do what you're doing right now. Search, no matter where it took us," Victoria answered.

"I just don't understand why none of the others will allow it."

"Because they don't understand. They don't realize just how important it is to you. None of them have lost their digimon," Yukito answered.

"And I could never ask them what it would be like if their digimon disappeared. Even I know that its too much to ask."

The other digidestined arrived a few minutes later. Two of them headed to the water to get some fish, while James, Mark and Tora tempted to make a fire. Mark went to grab some twigs, while Tora got some rocks to put in a circle where the fire was going to go. As for James he waited until Mark came back before attempting the fire.

Victoria and Renamon just side glanced each other as both shook their heads. Neither one knew ho two actually knew how to light a fire and keep it alive, they already discovered that on their first night in the digital world. Renamon knew she was going to have to step in before anything actually started.

Away from the group, Kisho sat by the water holding on to the egg trying to keep it warm.

"You've been quiet Kisho, everything okay?" asked Yumi sitting next to him.

"Yeah, I just can't wait until the egg hatches," Kisho replied.

"You have to have patience little one."

"How can you have so much patience with no location of your digimon?"

"Because I keep my mind set that I'll find him. Not only that, I also have Victoria and Kiva keeping me level headed."

"I hope you find your digimon soon. I want to see what kind you have."

"Me too, me too. Here, I have something for you. Just a little keepsake to help you along when you need strength," Yumi said taking her wolf pendent off and held it in both her hands. The wolf charm in her left and the chain in her right.

Kisho stared in wonder at the sight of the wolf. He was always intrigued by the pendent.

"This was given to me by my aunt when I was very young. She told me that when I wore this, I would have the courage and strength to be able to accomplish anything. It's like a good luck charm."

"Yumi, I could never accept this, it means too much to you."

"It'll only be for a little while. It's just to help you believe in yourself and not worry about all the problems going on. I'm sure with this, your digimon will be reborn just as fast."

"Thank you Yumi," Kisho said gently placing the egg on the ground and embracing Yumi in a tight hug.

Yumi was taken aback slightly be the hug, but she in return hugged him back. When Kisho let go, Yumi put the necklace around his neck and hooked it together. When Yumi sat back, Kisho looked down at the necklace and admired it for some time. It was gorgeous in so many ways. The sterling silver sparkled in the moonlight.

"Never take it off, all right? I'm trusting you with this."

"I promise."

Yumi smiled down at him as he watched him pick up the digi-egg. Mark joined them a minute later to check out what was going on.

"Hey Kisho, what do you have there?" asked Mark noticing the necklace.

"Yumi gave me it for safe keeping, it's suppose to give me courage," Kisho answered holding up the charm showing his brother.

"Kisho, I don't…"

"Don't worry Mark, it'll be for a short time. I trust him."

"All right. Dude don't worry so much, your digi-egg will hatch very soon," Mark reassured looking at Kisho who was still cradling the egg.

"I hope so."

Yumi returned to her group and sat down between Kiva and Victoria. Kiva stared endlessly at the twinkling stars while Victoria seemed to disappear into her own little world.

"How did your little chat go with Kisho?"

"Good, I gave him my wolf necklace."

"You actually gave him your prize possession?" Victoria asked turning her head to her friend.

"He deserved it."

"Who wants food?" called James.

"I smell fish," Yumi replied absentmindedly shifting her gaze over to the campfire not wanting to continue the conversation any longer.

Everyone sat around the campfire enjoying the cook fish. It seemed to be a great favourite to everyone. Kiva, Yumi and Victoria were still in their spots with the leftover fruit that they were able to keep. Puppymon and Renamon were enjoying both the fish and fruit.

"Okay moment of truth. What's it going to be?" asked James after finishing his food.

"We leave for Server," Yumi announced determinedly.

"But whose to say we have a chance against those new enemies?" asked Tora.

"Look, it doesn't matter, we'll never be able to find out unless we try. Besides I want to find my digimon."

"Come on, it'll be so much better if we just stay here," Mark argued.

"No. We need to do this. It is the only way!"

"Even so, what will our means of transportation be?" asked Bearmon.

Yumi, Kiva and Victoria looked at one another before a smile grew on their lips.

"Ever made a raft before?" Victoria asked.

"A raft? Are you serious?" James asked.

"Look, it's the only way we can get across the ocean. Do any of you have another idea?" Victoria asked.

"All right, let's take a vote, all in favour of leaving File Island?" Robert asked. Kiva, Victoria, Yumi, Yukito, Puppymon, Renamon, Penguinmon, Kisho, Tentomon and Robert raised their hands.

"Well, it's unanimous, we're leaving for Server tomorrow. For now we sleep."

No one dared to argue with them, all of them knew better than to come between their ideas, especially when it meant dealing with Yumi. It was almost suicide to go behind her back. Not take the risk, everyone found a comfortable spot on the ground and drifted off to sleep.

Yumi, Victoria, Yukito and Robert made a decision for the five of them to take turns guarding. Kisho was already out like a light by his brother and Gaomon, allowing himself to not only physically but mentally rest up.

"Let me take the first shit, you guys sleep, I'll wake the next person when it's time, I promise," Yumi said standing her ground, not allowing the others to stay awake.

"All right. Who wants the next shift?" Robert asked.

"I'll go," Yukito volunteered before Victoria or Kiva could interject.

"How about this, after Yukito, it goes me, Robert than Kiva, sound fair?" Victoria interjected.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Of course, Kiva didn't like the idea of getting the most sleep than everyone else. But she couldn't argue it, it was a good decision.

Renamon sat next to Yumi watching her partner sleep peacefully on the ground next to the fire. An air of innocence surrounded her presence taking away all her negativity.

Curled up opposite of Victoria was Kiva and Puppymon, nothing seemed to disturb them. Close to Yumi and Renamon were Yukito, Robert, and their digimon. Yukito was stretched on his back while Robert rested his head on Yukito's chest, his right arm wrapped around him waist. The digimon were lying on the ground resting peacefully.

"Renamon, why don't you go and sleep? I'll be fine on my own," Yumi said absentmindedly.

"Not until I get some answers."

Yumi side glanced Renamon with narrowed eyes as she let out a groan.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, you're worrying Victoria and Kiva, and I thought you would be more willing to talk to me."

"What do you want to know?"

"How come your distancing yourself from everyone?" And don't say your not, because I've been seeing that lately."

"Everyone just seems to be more in tuned with everything from their digimon to each other. I look at Yukito and Robert and I see a more tight connection with their relationship. It's like this place just brings everyone closer. Seeing everyone with their digimon, there's more of a close bond. I know Kiva and Puppymon both have one, they need it. You and Victoria have one, you two are so in tuned with your movements, and you two never have to say what needs to be done. Just like Kisho. He had Labramon, he had faith that he could digivolve, he still won't give up ever after he turned back to a digi-egg.

Than there's me, I have no one in this world. Yeah I have my friends, but I question every day will this last? Will something come between us? It doesn't help either that I have no digimon to protect me, to bond with. I have to rely on everyone else, and I hate it!"

"I thought you were one to never let that worry you," Renamon asked.

"I've always bottled it up inside, I never truly allowed it to get to me, but after seeing all this, I've come to doubt everything. My life, my purpose, everything. Renamon, I'm so confused and lost right now, it's killing me."

"Maybe that necklace held more to it than just a sense of courage. Perhaps it kept you level headed."

"I've always thought that, but I now think that it's just stress. Stress on everything, trying to find my digimon, trying to keep everyone level headed themselves, and not to rip people's heads off. I know it's not always shown with me in that light, but it's there."

"You just need to keep believing in yourself that you'll find your digimon and nothing wrong is going to happen."

"Gods, I hope not. This is driving me crazy, besides I already know that Kiva and Victoria are probably ready to kill me for doing this. Stressing out and screaming at the others."

"How come you never told any of this to Victoria and Kiva?"

"Both of them already have enough on their hands. Besides that's only been what's going on here. That's not even scratching the surface of my other life at home. I'm not even getting into that, we could be going on days about that one. Let's just put it this way, mom and I haven't spoken to each other in so long and haven't seen eye to eye."

"You never spoken to anyone about it before?"

"No, there was never any sense to do that. My friends have dealt with their own problems and I'm not one to deal with counsellors."

Renamon didn't say anything after that, she could tell Yumi was getting more stressed and upset just by going over her past. Yumi brought her knees up closer to her chest and stared into the distance, tiredness taking over her body. She pushed it passed her refusing to give in.

Morning came quickly, Yumi now lie nest to the burnt out fire pit. Victoria was still curled up as if she had never woken up. It was the same with Yukito and Robert. Their peacefulness was amazing. Kiva was the only one to be awake with Puppymon continuously stretching her arms.

The other pre-teens were still trying to force themselves awake with no avail. The digimon however seemed to be the only ones to be awake and ready to move.

"Kiva, Puppymon were you two up all night?" Lalamon asked.

"No, only the last couple of hours," Puppymon answered.

"Do you think they'll be awake soon?" asked Bearmon.

"I doubt it, sleep didn't seem to come too easily to them, but they should be up soon," Puppymon responded.

"Is it time to go?" asked a tired Kisho, several minutes later.

"We still have to create a raft first," replied Mark.

"Let's get started then, no sense in wasting time," Yumi replied now wide awake.

"Right now?"

"I agree with Yumi, let's go."

"So how do we start and where?" Tora and James.

"We'll never be able to cut all these trees down that we need."

"Never say never. Bearmon, Gaomon help me," Renamon said taking charge.

"All right, right behind you."

"Diamond storm!"

"Bear claw!"

"Double backhand!"

The three digimon attacked the trees at once causing nine trees to fall at once.

"Are you sure this won't take forever?" asked Tora.

"No, just as long as we work together. With Renamon, Gaomon and Bearmon taking down the trees, we just need the rest of the digimon to shape them to form a raft. For that I think we could just cut them in half long ways and even them out. How many trees do you suppose we need?" Yumi asked.

"I calculate that twenty would be sufficient, especially if we were to cut them in half," Robert replied typing on his computer of a layout of the raft.

"All right. Victoria, Mark, Tora and Kisho could you four go and collect vines so we can tie the wood together please. Meanwhile, Yukito, Kiva Robert, James and I can get the logs all organized."

"Sounds like a plan."

After an hour of working together, they were able to create a large raft capable of holding the nine children and seven digimon. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva looked satisfied with their hard work that they did. It actually felt kind of good that they worked as a team along with the others.

Kisho stood next to them still holding on to his digi-egg, looking hopeful. He didn't notice right away the shaking of the egg until a cracking sound could be heard. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva all turned their heads to the egg.

"What is that?" asked Victoria.

"It's the digi-egg," announced Yumi.

"It's hatching!" Kisho exclaimed excitedly.

The top of the shell broke off revealing a small round white head with pink ears and a tiny pink tail popped out.

"Aw, it's so cute."

"Hi, I'm Paomon."

"Okay, heart warming as this all is, we need to leave," Yumi said impatiently.

"All right, all right. Let's move it people, we have a long trip ahead of us," James called.

With everyone's help they were able to push the raft to the water. In seconds everyone was ready to set sail. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva along with Renamon and Puppymon were standing at the front of the raft preparing for a new adventure. Kisho sat of the opposite end playing with Paomon. It was a miracle to finally have his digimon back with him even if it were for a short time being separated from him.

Yukito sat leaning again the mast staring off into space, as he listened to the sounds of rushing water at every angle. He cursed himself for forgetting his player back at camp. He yearned desperately to be listening to his "calming music" for the duration of the trip.

Robert sat next to him typing on the keyboard as usual to get a lock on their location and see if he could somehow actually locate Gennai.

"Question for you, do you have your music player set up on there?" Yukito asked not taking his eyes off the blue sky.

"No, I don't see a reason why I would need it. And no I'm not downloading it so you can listen to your music," Robert replied not looking up from the screen.

Yukito let his head rest on his shoulder as he stared almost blankly at Robert. There was a pleading look in his eyes that normally would work on his boyfriend, but not this time, Robert wasn't going to allow it.

"You know that it'll be impossible for me to get enough services to actually download it, and on top of that I'm not wasting my time and space."

"You're no fun," Yukito said jokingly.

Robert rested his head on Yukito's shoulder as he continued his work. Yumi looked back at them, a faint smile grew on her lips as she saw them cuddled together. She felt a longing inside of her now to be with someone of her own.

"They are just the cutest couple ever."

"Do you remember how long they've been going out for?" Victoria asked.

"Wasn't it just at the beginning of school last year?" Yumi replied.

"I thought so. How was it that he got lucky enough to snag the good ones?"

"Yukito's got a gift about him. Besides, with his looks who wouldn't say no?"

The waves were becoming a little more stronger and higher. It started to affect some of the kids, mainly James, Tora and Mark. The others kept their cool. Yukito sat calmly in the same position, his eyes closed enjoying the movement. Some how it didn't seem to affect his stomach like it did the others.

Renamon and Victoria were sitting cross legged meditating, concentrating on everything but their present location. Yumi was lying on her back, her headphones in her ears as she listened to her music not caring about what was going on. Kiva and Puppymon on the other hand sat by the edge staring at the waves watching fish fly by.

"Oh god, please tell me we'll be arriving soon, these waves are killing me," groaned Tora fighting the urge to throw up.

"It'll still be a while yet, don't think about it too much and it won't upset your stomach so much," answered Robert who had his head resting on Yukito's lap.

"Yumi, do you have any bottled water?" called James, hoping that something liquid would help.

There was no answer from Yumi. Her eyes were now closed, it was unknown if she were asleep or not.

"YUMI!" James finally screamed.

Yumi opened her eyes, a strong glare hit her eyes momentarily blinding her. Blinking her eyes a few times, she flipped over on to her stomach and took out one of her earphones.

"May I help you with something?" her voice a deadly calm.

"Um…I…you know…" James stuttered fearing her calmness.

"Spit it out."

"Do you have any bottled water?"

"Yes. You do realize you don't have to sound so petrified when you ask something like that right?"

Yumi dug out a cold water bottle and rolled it over to James without hitting someone. She felt the cool sea breeze her skin as she faced the front of the raft and stared off into the distance.

"Hey, has anyone seen Penguinmon?" Yukito asked opening his eyes and looking around.

"He's in the water, swimming beside the raft," Lalamon answered.

"I heard my name, everything okay?" Penguinmon asked.

"Just curious as to where you were."

"Okay."

The waves grew higher and higher causing the raft to get knocked around more than it was to begin with. Victoria and Renamon opened their eyes in alert staring at the water. Yumi sat up in one swift move, almost like a vampire rising from its coffin. Kiva and Puppymon watched in shock as a massive wave turned up.

"Tidal wave! Everyone hold fast!" yelled Victoria.

"Oh god, not good," cried out Tora.

A large ten foot storey tidal wave rose up in front of them and crashed down hard just in front of them causing the raft to rise up making everyone to let out a scream of terror. Yumi held on to the mast bracing herself for the over power of the water. She might have an addiction to water, but to be swallowed by the waves could be a problem.

Mark held on to his brother hoping for dear life that nothing bad would happen to them. James and Tora knelt at the front holding on to the raft thinking that it would protect them.

Renamon grabbed hold of Victoria preparing to get out of the situation. She knew that the outcome was going to be bad. As for Kiva, Robert and Yukito their instincts were to brace themselves against anything.

"Okay, I've seen waves, but never that big without a storm on the way," Tora said as the raft bounced on smaller waves.

"Its not caused by any boat. What else could it have been?" questioned James.

"What's that?" asked Kisho pointing to a large figure in the distance.

At first glance could mistaken it for a small island, but when the waves calmed down it could be revealed that it was a twenty foot whale type digimon. Everyone was stunned to see the monstrous digimon.

"Penguinmon, get out of the water!" Yukito called out when Penguinmon emerged to the surface.

"Who is that?"

"That's Whamon, he is a giant digimon and lives deep in the oceans of the digital world. His jet arrows are unbelievable."

Whamon went to dive again causing more waves to grow. Fear filled everyone as the raft went for another bumpy ride. Whamon never resurfaced causing a few to hold their breath.

"I know that Whamon can be aggressive, but I never seen on this aggressive," Penguinmon said watching the tides spin around them.

"Oh gods, not again!"

As the whirl pool began enclose them, Whamon once again appeared with his mouth wide open.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!"

"Is this seriously how we end our adventure here? By being eaten alive?" Tora yelled as the raft rushed through Whamon's mouth.

"I don't like this, I don't like this at all!" screamed Kisho.

"We're heading down the oesophagus, the last step is the stomach, hopefully we don't have to see the final part of the journey," Robert explained.

"Robert, you're not helping the fear factory here! It's bad enough we're about to be eaten alive, we don't need to be told step by step where we are travelling," Victoria replied in terror.

Within seconds the raft landed in the stomach surrounded by fluid. Everyone looked around stunned.

"Robert? What's going to happen next?" Yumi asked. Something in her voice told the others that she knew something bad was going to happen.

"The acid with slowly start to eat at the raft before destroying us."

"Yeah, I thought so."

Right after Yumi said that acid started to spill from the top in a waterfall way. Everyone except Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and Yukito screamed, the four let out a groan at the dangerous situation they were in.

"We're going to die now, we're going to freaking die now. We barely saw out lives through," whined Tora.

"Shut up Tora! Just calm down, we need to keep focus," Yumi snapped staring at the wall of the stomach. The acid was increasing even more. In the corner of her eye she could see something black. Turning her had fully Yumi spotted a black gear.

"Guys up there! A black gear!" Yumi pointed out.

"How the heck do we reach that?" James asked.

"With a little assistance. Who wants to go?" asked Renamon.

Kiva raised her hand with no hesitation. Her eyes appeared to hold a strong and dark feel to them. Renamon wrapped her arms around Kiva's waist and teleported to the top. Both knew they had mere seconds to do this with nothing to hold on to.

When Kiva was directly about it, her digivice began to glow. Renamon instantly disappeared and reappeared again to keep them in the air. In seconds the black gear finally disintegrated as Renamon and Kiva free fell half way before Renamon teleported safely to the raft.

"Well, at least that's taken care of, but…uh…how do we actually get out of here?" asked Mark.

Before anyone could answer, the raft began to speed back through the stomach caused by an orb of light. None of them could think there would be any more rushes, but apparently there could.

"This is why I loath surprises!" Yumi groaned as the raft shot out of the blow hole along with a spray of water.

The raft crashed back on to the water breaking upon contact. Yumi emerged from the water coughing and spluttering as she treaded the water looking for any sign of her friends. One by one everyone began to submerge either treading water or holding on to the broken pieces of wood.

"Are you all right, Victoria?" asked Renamon.

"Yeah, *cough* I think," Victoria coughed trying to clear the water from her throat as she held on to a piece of wood.

"Surprisingly we actually got out of there."

"Hey, where is Kiva?" Yumi asked aloud as she looked around at the others. Kiva was the only one to not surface, Puppymon either. Horrified, Yumi dived back under the water desperately searching for any sign of her.

Kiva was panicking, she didn't know what was going on. She couldn't see Puppymon anywhere. She could feel her body go into shock as she sank further into the deep. In one way she almost wanted to allow the water to take her away, it would have been better, but she pushed that though aside. She needed to live to take care of her mother, and to keep Puppymon safe and stay with her friends.

'_Kiva, can you hear me?'_ Puppymon called out through their connection.

'_Yes, where are you?'_ Kiva though back as calmly as she could.

'_Just keep focused, don't allow your body to sink any further. I'm close to where you are,'_ Puppymon replied.

Puppymon was swimming deeper and deeper hopefully in the same location as his partner. He could feel her heart racing as her body yearned for the fresh air. There was another presence in the water as well in the same relative location as Kiva. It didn't take Puppymon long before he realized that it was Yumi.

Yumi could see Kiva struggling to push herself back up to land but to no avail. Reaching her, Yumi grabbed around her waist and pulled her up to the surface. The sunlight shone down upon them giving them the sense of relief of being back at the surface.

Puppymon poked his head out of the water taking a deep breath. Before him he could see Whamon floating there. Feet over by the group of children, he could see Yumi and Kiva holding on to a piece of wood.

"Kiva, are you all right?" Yumi asked.

Kiva nodded her head as a coughing fit set in. Yumi let out a sigh of relief as she saw Puppymon join them. She hated these types of scare attacks when one of her friends got hurt or might be in trouble.

"I am so sorry, I don't know what came over me," Whamon apologized.

"It's all right, we knew it wasn't your fault, it was the annoying black gears," answered Lalamon.

"Don't worry, it's gone now," replied Tora.

"What a relief."

"Those black gears are getting more and more annoying," Victoria muttered.

"Bet you that was the end of those pesky things," Mark said.

"I doubt it."

"I owe you one kids."

"No problem. Listen, you wouldn't happen to know how far Server is would you." Yumi asked.

"Yes, depending upon what is around, I'd say it would take me three and a half days."

"Well, now our problem comes down to, how the hell do we get there? Our raft is destroyed and none of our digimon would have the strength to carry us all the way," Victoria stated aggravated.

"Are you all heading to Server?"

"Well, we were trying to," Yumi scoffed still treading the water.

"Seeing that you saved my life, I'll be more than willing to take you."

"Are you serious?" James asked stunned.

"Yes, thank the gods, we have a way there," sighed Yumi happily as she rested on her back.

Whamon dived back into the water swimming just underneath the kids. The next seconds he resurfaced raising everyone on his back. Everyone let out a sigh of relief as a cool sea breeze hit their faces.

"This is so much better."

The children were all standing up staring out at the open ocean. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were further ahead than the others getting away from the whole group togetherness.

"So much smoother and faster than that raft was," Robert pointed out.

"You're telling me. Less chance of getting sick."

"Okay, we have a ride, next thing on our list is to find the tags and crests that Devimon decided to hide somewhere," Yumi stated bluntly.

"Did you say Devimon?" asked Whamon.

"Do you know him?"

"Well, I don't know anything about tags and crests, but a while ago Devimon hid something deep in the bottom of the ocean."

"Seriously? Please tell us where," Yumi said.

"It's on the way to Server, you can all ride inside me and I'll take you there."

'_And maybe I'll be one step closer into finding my digimon,' _Yumi thought.

Once inside Whamon, a surge of energy spread through everyone about the new items. Yumi, Kiva, Victoria and Yukito kept their amusement well hidden from view of everyone. There was no sense in getting all worked over something so small.

"This is so exciting," Tora squealed. "One more step into a higher level of evolution."

"I still can't believe that we can actually go higher now," Lalamon said.

"Don't forget, it's going to be the case of actually finding the blasted tags and going on a ridiculous mission to locate the crests," Yumi stated coldly. There wasn't any reason for the sudden outburst, but something inside of her finally snapped.

"Yumi, where did that come from?" asked Victoria concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just want to fucking end this. I swear to the gods, we have been dealing with the same bullshit for I don't know how long, and it always ends up the same way."

"Okay, Yumi snapped and not in a good way," Tora said backing away a little from Yumi. The others followed her example. Yumi didn't notice it, or if she did she didn't give a shit.

"Should we fear this?" asked James in a hush voice.

"Give her a minute, hopefully she'll get over it. You guys have to remember, she's been on this journey without a digimon and there hasn't been any sign of it anywhere. So not only is she left out from that, she's going to be really left out when everyone will be digivolving to the higher level," Victoria explained in a low voice.

"So, is that why she's been acting that way?" asked Bearmon.

"Somewhat, her regular attitude is a natural outlook, but when she sees all of you bonding and seeing the digimon digivolve, it kills her on the inside."

"What about when she sees you and Kiva doing the same thing with Renamon and Puppymon?"

"She's jealous of us too, there's no getting away from it."

"Guys, I think we're here," Yumi called. Her attitude seemed to have change.

No one said too much when they entered the underwater cave. It was an eerie thing for Yumi to be in an eerie quietness, it usually means a calm before the storm, especially if anyone decided to make any sort of smart ass comment toward her.

"Yumi, do you want to talk?" asked Victoria.

"What's there to talk about? Everything is fine."

"Okay, what definition of fine are you using?"

"My definition of course."

"That's what I feared."

Heading further into the dark cave, the children could see a faint light from somewhere ahead of them.

"What's that up there?" asked Mark.

"This seems too good to be true," Yumi said stepping a little closer.

"Why do you say that?"

"I just have that feeling."

"I don't buy it, you're actually going to believe a superstition?" asked Mark and Gaomon.

As soon as the two of them took a step forward the ground began to shutter and break away.

"What did I tell you?" yelled Yumi jumping back as a yellow digimon appeared.

"Who is that?" asked Kisho.

"That is Digmon, he has the power to control the earth. There is no time when he loses on land."

"No one is getting by me!"

"You want a bet? Diamond storm!" Renamon called out stepping forward in front of Victoria.

"Tornado punch!"

"Gold rush!"

"Why is he attacking us?" Tora asked ducking from the attack.

"I think that something might be controlling him," answered Bearmon.

"It's the stupid black gears," Yumi pointed out noticing the black gear in his back. "I told you."

"Okay, sorry for doubting you."

The three digimon glared at each other daring for one of them to make a move. Renamon slowly moved her one foot back a bit readying herself for an attack. Gaomon stayed relatively still calculating each move he was about to make.

Time stood still for the longest time. Yumi braced herself for the outcome of the problem.

"What are we going to do if this doesn't end well?" Tora whispered.

"We run!" Yumi mentioned.

"Yukito, let us worry about him. You need to find those tags."

"Gotcha."

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

"Spiral blow!"

"Gold rush!"

"Go, while they are distracted!" Yumi screamed.

All the kids ran toward the protection of the convenient store. Yumi stayed in the back making sure everyone got to safety.

"I say we split up and search for those tags," Yumi said as she turned her attention back to the fight outside. Lalamon moved forward wanting to join the fight.

"It's time for me to join the fight," Lalamon declared. "Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Ah, another one for me to defeat!"

"I don't think so. Sunshine beam!"

The attack aimed right for Digmon landing squarely in front of him. The ground blew up causing Digmon to crash into the store. Sunflowmon grinned to herself as she watched the dust spread over them.

"Sunflowmon, aim for the black gear!" instructed Penguinmon.

"Right. Sunshine beam!"

Once again the solar energy headed for Digmon, but this time the blast surrounded the black gear pulling it out destroying it in the air.

Inside the store, everyone ducked down as debris fell around them caused by the attacks.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Victoria.

"I think so."

"Kisho! Where did you disappear to?" Mark called noticing Kisho was no where in sight.

"Paomon, this is not the time to play hide and seek. Come on out!" called Kisho three aisles over from where the group all stood.

There was no response, but Kisho refused to give up. He knew his digimon would be close by.

"Kisho! Come on answer me!" Mark called out, his voice carried around the debris.

Kisho turned his head at the sound of his brother's voice, only to hear another sound on his other side. Not responding to his brother, Kisho turned his full attention toward the aisle where the noise came from. Sitting there was Paomon next to a medium size oak box.

"There you are. What do you have there?"

Paomon jumped on to Kisho's head allowing him to pick up the box. It felt fairly heavy, life there was something inside.

"I can't believe he disappeared again."

"Mark, settle down. He must have gotten lost in the dust, not his fault," Yukito said.

"Guys, look what I found!" Kisho called out running toward them.

"What?" everyone asked turning their heads toward the direction of Kisho's voice.

"This!" Kisho announced holding up the box as soon as he got to them.

James took it out of his hands and opened the lid. Inside there was nine tags, the chains and trim around the little screen were gold.

"Wow, they're gorgeous," Tora explained.

"These definitely have to be the tags Gennai referred to."

"Sure look like them."

Within minutes everyone was back on the surface standing upon Whamon's back with the tags securely around their necks. The sun was setting in the distance, giving everyone a sense of new discovery.

"Don't forget what Gennai told us. The crests are scattered across the continent of Server," Robert said.

"And with both the tags and crests, we'll be able to digivolve once again," Tentomon answered.

'_Yay, just one more thing I get to watch on the side lines again,'_ Yumi thought bitterly.

"Let's go find those crests," cheered James.

**A/N: So another end to another chapter, hope you all enjoyed it. Yes Yumi was having mood swings. A lot of that was surrounded by what was going on in my life. I thought I add it in, spice things up a little. Also, the version of fine Victoria and Yumi are referring to is F.I.N.E: Fucked up Insecure Neurotic Emotional. You'll be seeing Yumi refer back to that a lot, especially when they return home. Next chapter will be up within a few days, and I'm taking San Child of the Wolves advice and switching it up. So here's a little hint, next two chapters are going to be completely different. Tell me what you think. I don't want to ruin anything.**


	15. Balance is the key to life

**A/N: Once again, thank you for the reviews. So here is chapter 15, this is going to be a fun one to read, I'm taking San child of the wolves advice about changing things around, but I am still using the same villains and a few elements from the show. I'm also taking White Hunters advice and slowly make everyone get along. Obviously it's going to be a work in progress. I don't own Slipknot either. **

Chapter 15

Balance is the key of life

Days had passed since leaving File Island and retrieving the tags from the underground store. Everyone was sleeping peacefully in a close knit group, all except for Yumi. Her body had worked itself into a routine where she only sleep a couple of hours at a time, or close to no sleep at all. She no longer felt the affects of sleep deprivation or over tiredness, but she was sure it as going to hit hard.

"It has been six days and already we have not seen land. Whamon are you sure we are going the right way?" Yumi asked.

"You must have patience. And don't worry, land is just up ahead," Whamon answered.

Yumi focused her attention on the horizon ahead of her. She couldn't see anything at first, digging through her bag she took out her mini telescope and looked again. Sure enough, land.

"Oh thank gods," sighed Yumi. "Guys, wake up we've reached our destination finally!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake," James said shooting up looking all jittery.

"I wasn't truly asleep," Mark mentioned.

"Sure you weren't," Victoria scoffed.

"You two enough, there's no need to start a fight," Robert said tempting to get in between the two of them.

"All right, before we even step foot on Server, let's get this straight. We are not starting fights, there is no arguments! Got it?" Yumi snapped determined to end the conflict once and for all. Even though it was normally her that started most of them.

"Whoa, where did that come from?" Puppymon and Kiva asked.

"Let's put it this way, I'm through with this insufferable arguing. You guys always tell me to chill, so guess what? My turn," Yumi snapped. The lack of sleep was definitely getting to her, but at least her judgment was still there.

Renamon, who was right beside her turned her head and gave her a little smile. This was exactly what Yumi needed, a little more control in her life. The leader inside of her was definitely starting to show.

"I agree with Yumi, this is a new place, let's put all the problems we had behind us and start anew," Kiva and Puppymon agreed.

Victoria nodded her head, a tiny grin appearing on her face. Everyone seemed to be in agreement with what Yumi said. Of course, they were still on the petrified side of Yumi, so needless to say everyone would agree to anything she had to say regardless.

"Since we got that all settled, I say we get ready to go to Server, I can't wait to see what exactly there is on this new place," mentioned Yukito.

Excitement filled the small group as land came more into view, this was it a new area of exploring. Yumi felt confident that something great would come of this. No more wondering where her digimon hid, she would finally be part of the group.

"Land!" called out James.

"Oh thank gods," sighed Victoria.

As soon as Whamon reached the side of Server, everyone looked over the side of Whamon where land was and noticed how far the drop was.

"We're going to die," James moaned.

"It's not that bad, just don't think of the impact," Yumi snickered as she prepared for the jump along with Victoria, Renamon, Kiva and Puppymon.

"You three are insane."

The three girls grinned at one another as they all jumped into the air, free falling to the ground at top speed. Renamon and Puppymon were right after them, landing securely on the ground without a scratch on them.

"Okay, whenever you guys are ready!" shouted Puppymon.

Without hesitation everyone began to jump from Whamon to the ground, hoping for a safe landing. The only one that didn't budge was Tora. She was freaking out.

"Tora, come on. It's not as far as you think," called Mark.

"I can't do it. I am terrified that something is going to happen to cause me to hurt something."

"Tora, this is ridiculous, I've seen you do a lot of crazy things back home. This is nothing."

"No, I seriously can't do it. I've always been attacked to something."

"You have to be kidding me…Renamon can you take me back up there, please?" Yumi asked getting frustrated.

"You're not going to push her are you?" asked Robert.

"No, just give her some words of encouragement," Yumi replied her eyes locked on to Tora.

Renamon picked Yumi up and both teleported back up to Whamon's back. At the sight of Yumi and Renamon, Tora let out a sigh of relief thinking that Renamon was going to teleport her down.

"Yumi, I never took you for one to care," Tora said as she moved closer to them. As she got right in front of Yumi and Renamon, Renamon disappeared, leaving the two girls alone.

"Are you kidding me? Now how are we suppose to get down?" Tora panicked looking down at the other who were all watching her.

"You are going to have to trust me on this, okay?" Yumi said in a much soothing voice as she could muster.

"It's kind of hard to trust someone who always gives attitude and fight almost tooth and nail over something."

"Unless you want me to leave you up here, I suggest you trust me," Yumi replied trying her hardest to keep her cool.

"All right, all right, I'll trust you," Tora remarked, her eyes glued to the others below.

"Tora, look at me. Don't focus on them, this is where trust comes in handy."

Tora gazed into Yumi's determined grey eyes. Tora got the hint that she had no choice in the matter. Yumi held out her hand toward Tora who accepted it willingly.

"Trust me?"

"Yes, seeing as I have no other choice."

"Jump!"

With no time to prepare, Tora felt a tugging on her arm as Yumi jumped off Whamon for the second time taking Tora with her.

A rush of air whipped through their ears as the speed picked up. Tora could feel her heart jumping into her throat as land got closer. She braced herself for impact thinking that it was going to be the end. But it didn't come, instead she landed safely on the ground next to Yumi. Yumi knelt down on the ground with no problem. Tora was a little more on the less graceful side as she fell on her butt after attempting to copy Yumi.

"Okay, that was fun."

"Says the person who was scared shitless."

"Now what?" asked Kisho.

"We wonder till we come across something," shrugged Yukito.

"What did Whamon say?"

"Good luck on your journey."

"Lovely."

With no general direction to go on, the group made their way blindly into the foreign land. It didn't surprise them at all that they would be facing desert lands.

"Too bad we didn't have a map to follow," Tora said, a hint in her voice.

"Even if we had one, it would be impossible to figure it out," replied Robert scanning the area for any sign of vegetation or shade. Something other than sand anyway.

"Don't worry so much about it, I'm sure we'll find some sort of grass area in no time," Yukito replied trying his hardest to calm his boyfriend down.

'_To keep an open mind, or not to keep an open mind, that is the question,'_ Kiva thought to herself as she rolled her eyes.

"Wonder what we'll find here?" Kisho asked.

"All I hope is we have less attempt of bumping into random dark digimon right away then we did on File Island," Yumi groaned scanning the area.

"Well so far, so good on that one," James said also looking around.

"If you jinx us, I am going to put your life into a living hell, is that understood?" Yumi threatened.

"What happened to us getting along today?" asked Bearmon.

"Just a friendly reminder, that's all," Yumi replied through gritted teeth.

Far in the distance, in a trailer were three digimon, all sitting in front of computer screens observing the digidestined. The three digimon looked to be like large mutated rabbits. They were known as Gazimon.

"Gazimon are known for their violent-tempers and mischievous digimon who love to play pranks on other digimon," the analyzer said.

"Hey boss, I think we have company," one of the Gazimon called.

"What are you talking about? You know better than to bother the king. Those kids will be here soon," replied the one referred to as boss.

"There is nothing entertaining about Etemon, he has the power to control anything electronic through his dark network," explained Tentomon.

"On the monitor, there seems to be a clutter of dots," said the second Gazimon.

"Unless you want me to make you wish you were never born, you better come out and tell me what is going on," replied the boss as he stared at the monitor.

"Look there!" replied the first Gazimon pointing to the clutter.

"Apparently those kids are all ready here on Server," replied the third Gazimon.

"I don't believe this, my plans are shattered, I had everything all worked out. How could something like this just happen? This is horrible," complained Etemon as he started freaking out.

"Well apparently no one told those kids."

"I am the king here, they've got to learn the hard way, which you already know they can't be messing with the royal one. I expect my plans to be followed!" Etemon demanded as he started to type on the key board.

Outside the Monochromon was released from the trailer. Etemon stopped typing on the keyboard with his arms in the air.

"I order you to launch the dark network!" shouted Etemon. Within seconds black cords began to extend from the trailer heading out toward the far reaches of the desert. Etemon pointed his microphone in the direction of the cords. "Let's go!"

The group continued their trek through the blistering hot desert, desperately searching for some relief for a while. It had been three hours since leaving Whamon and embarking on their journey. Once again, Yumi, Kiva and Victoria all seemed to be surviving the heat. It was still a mystery on the others part trying to figure out how and why the three girls who wore all black and long sleeves could actually stand the heat. Where as the others who all wore t-shirts and jeans were dying.

"Ant luck on the digivices yet Robert?" asked Yukito looking over at Robert who was typing on his laptop. The laptop was resting on his left forearm while his right hand was typing over the keys like there was no tomorrow. Robert had a habit of multitasking when it came time for it. Once again he had Yumi's digivice hooked up to his laptop, she asked him to set up a map on there if it were possible. Knowing Robert, anything could be possible.

"Getting there, it's just frustrating when signals keep moving," Robert groaned frustrated.

"Maybe it would be easier if you actually were sitting while doing that," commented Tora shrugging.

"It's not that problem, it's more of random signals popping up every now and again and I can't recognize the styling of it," Robert answered now stopping in his tracks as he stared puzzled at the screen as an auburn dot came dashing toward them at top speed.

"Um…guys….whatever this dot is, it's moving pretty fast," Robert called out a worried tone in his voice making everyone's skin crawl including the chaos triplets.

"I say we run, now!" Yumi commanded looking in the distance as a high dust storm picked up.

"Holy crap! Dust storm!" shouted James.

With first instinct the seventeen high-tailed it in the other direction hoping to avoid contact with whatever was going to be coming at them.

"We are not going to out run this thing…it's impossible," Tora shrieked.

"Yes we can, don't think negatively, keep positive," instructed Yumi.

"Where is this coming from?" asked James.

"What?"

"Look out?" screamed Yukito.

Yumi and James both looked ahead to see a dead end. None of them realized that they came to a cliff surrounded by trees and more cliffs. They were trapped. Both came to a skidding halt so not to hit the rocks. The two were only mere inches from the cliff. Their breaths were heavy from the run. This was not a good sign on their part. The others soon came to a stop beside them staring in horror at the blockade.

"Shit, what do we do now?" Tora asked horrified.

"Look for a way out, there has to be one," Mark said scanning the bottom of the cliff.

"Too late," groaned Victoria.

The dust storm that was falling them was right on top of them now. Everyone covered their faces bracing themselves from the sand. Something else seemed to be with the dust storm as well, but it was hard to tell what exactly it was.

Yumi managed to get her eyes open as best as she could to see what they were up against. Through squinted eyes she could see a tiny creature with dark blue fur with a white part on the mouth. It was the same size as Viximon. It didn't seem harmful, but Yumi learned not to underestimate things.

"Guys, the dust storm in done and I believe we have company," Yumi said now standing with her arms crossed.

"What do you mean you 'believe we have company'?" asked James.

"Look down," instructed Yumi as everyone looked at her curiously.

The eight looked down and saw the small creature standing before them. Like Yumi, they all thought that it seemed harmless.

"What is it?"

"It's called Dorimon, it's speed is incredibly fast. It's not known for it to be friendly. He's dangerous too, if you approach him he'll tackle into you recklessly. His sharply grown ears also serve as hard horns, so he can prick his enemies with them," explained Tentomon.

"Okay, so how is he when one is is not approaching him?" Tora asked cautiously as she kept her eyes glued to the tiny blue creature and backing away slowly.

"I think we are about to find out," Robert said watching Dorimon open its mouth.

"What's its attack?" asked Kisho.

"Metal drop."

"O…kay." A bright light began to form inside of its mouth causing the kids to slowly back away.

"Metal drop!"

"Oh shit, run!"

The attack came all too soon causing everyone to dive to the ground to brace themselves from the attack. Debris of rocks and dust littered the air and fell on top of them. Sounds of coughing could be heard from everyone on the ground. And while they were close together it was still impossible for them to be fully aware of where they truly were.

"Is everyone all right?" called James.

"It's hard to breathe," coughed Tora.

"Anyone have an idea of where Dorimon went to?" asked Yumi having a coughing fit from breathing in the dust.

"No, I still can't see."

"Everyone, remain silent for a second," instructed James.

The fifteen went to an eerily quietness as they listened intently to their surroundings. The Dorimon that attacked them still sniffed around the debris filled air. The dust still hadn't settled, allowing the children a chance to hide.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Dorimon challenged.

"He still can't see us. On my count we run. Head toward the right side, hopefully we can escape him in time," Yumi whispered.

"Metal drop."

Dorimon attacked the air again thinking it was going to hit at least something, or at least the intruders. All it did was fill up the air with more debris giving more of a cover for the gang to escape.

"Perfect, let's move," whispered Yukito slowly starting to stand up and make his way toward the right side holding on to Robert's hand.

Cautiously the others followed suit of standing up and holding on to one another's hand making sure to get out of the cloud of dust. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva were more on the hesitant side of complying to the whole holding hands thing. But knowing it had to be the only way the three reluctantly complied. Their digimon kept low hoping not to give themselves away.

'_Where do we need to go from here?'_ asked Puppymon to Kiva.

Kiva eyed the others curiously hoping to get a reaction from one of them. She was in the back of the line, refusing to be near any of the others touch. In front of her was Victoria with Yumi ahead of them. In front of her was Tora, followed by the boys.

'_I don't know, I can't get any reactions.'_

'_Let me try something. Yukito, can you hear me?'_ Puppymon reached out past his comfort zone with Kiva.

'_Before I answer, who is this?'_ Yukito asked thinking he was going crazy.

'_Excellent, it went through. This is Puppymon, where are we heading?'_

'_Far away from Dorimon as possible. If that means wandering in circles. That means wandering in circles.'_

"Guys, I think we can all stop holding hands here, we're far from the danger zone," Yumi mentioned already released from Victoria and Tora's hands.

"About time," sighed Victoria wiping her hands on her skirt.

"Puppymon, since when can you enter someone else's mind like that?" Yukito asked with a shudder.

"It was worth a try seeing as we couldn't see anything," replied Puppymon.

"Stop doing that, it freaks me out."

'_Nice,'_ Kiva smirked at Puppymon satisfied.

"So where are we?" asked Tora noticing that they were in a forested area. It was somewhat cluttered together with a hint of a path. But the branches were all tangled together making it impossible to see. Almost no light could shine through from the top. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva all let out a sigh of relief from escaping the sunlight.

"I don't know, but I like this spot," Yumi commented.

"But it's impossible to see," James mentioned.

"That's the whole point."

"I'll never understand you three," sighed Bearmon shaking his head.

"Don't try to, you could hurt yourself."

With that, the children and their digimon headed through the forest. Twigs and roots welcomed the gang as they cautiously treaded the forest, except for Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon who were far ahead of them climbing over everything with ease. Their movements were almost poetic at each prance they made. The others were in shock by how quickly they could move.

"Okay, I am no keeping up them," Mark said stopping to catch his breath.

"Neither are we, they *should* be waiting for us at the end," Yukito replied. His remark at the end was not one for a demand like they should have waited, it was more of a knowing that they would be there.

After half an hour the gang stopped again when they were at a dead end.

"Oh for frig sakes. It's dark as it is and we're lost," whined Tora.

"Which means we can't follow our digivices," replied Robert.

"Shit!" groaned Yukito smacking his head on the closest tree. The others turned to him concerned as he stared into space.

"Are you all right?" asked Penguinmon concerned.

"I feel nothing."

The thick forest soon became thinner and thinner making it almost easier to walk. Yumi pulled herself up on a branch, swinging herself over a pile of tangled branches below her.

"That was a fun work out," laughed Yumi.

"Speak for yourself," scoffed Puppymon.

"What you suppose is in this forest?" asked Kiva through Puppymon.

"I hope something worth seeing."

"Attack!" shouted something in the distance.

"What was that?" asked Victoria.

"I don't like that sound," Renamon commented.

"Do you think whoever is up there caught the others?" Yumi asked.

"No. Shouldn't they be right behind us?" Victoria remarked.

"I think we were separated back there somewhere," answered Kiva and Puppymon grimly.

"Fantastic. It better not be them down there than."

"Listen, I don't think they're attacking anyone. I think they're training," Renamon replied.

"What?" the three asked in unison looking through the small opening.

Their eyes followed Renamon's finger all the way down to a large clearing where a group of mix sizes of dragon type digimon were training. There were some that had purple fur with the same white patch around the mouth as the Dorimon. On its foreheads appeared to be a red interface. Their ears were a little bigger than their previous form with a long tail with a white patch at the end. Their hind legs were long with three sharp black claws, and their arms were short with long with three black sharp nails. White patches were on their feet and hands and underbelly.

The others seemed to be a little taller in not just height but in length as well. Their fur was a dark blue like the Dorimon. These digimon had long wings protruding from its shoulder blades. Just like the Dorimon and the other digimon these ones had the same white patches around the mouth, tail, feet and hands and the around the neck. Unlike the last group, this group had three red claws on each hand and foot.

There were a bunch of other ones resembling the Dorimon the girls previously saw as well.

"Renamon, what are the other digimon?" asked Victoria quietly crouching low.

"The others are Dorumon and Dorugamon," answered Renamon.

"What's their story?" Victoria asked.

"Dorumon are a combat race, his high battle instincts cause him to bite at anything he sees. His special attack is metal cannon. Charging across the path and then stopping, he's able to perform Dash metal, with a greater amount of accumulated power," Renamon explained referring to the small scale dragon type digimon.

"Dorugamon is a fierce digimon that can cause digimon to run away when they see his shadow. When he fights, he shows atrocious characteristics, but because he has the intelligence of a dragon, he is usually placid," Renamon explained referring to the larger ones with the red claws.

"So dangerous?" Yumi replied leaning further interested in the new discovery.

"Very," responded Renamon.

"And we want to go down there?" Victoria, Kiva, and Puppymon asked incredulously.

"If that's the only way we can get out than yes," Renamon replied matter-of-factly.

"I don't like your answer," Victoria muttered sourly.

"We'll be fine…"

"Ha, that's funny," muttered Yumi lowering herself to the ground to start the slid down the hill.

One by one the girls slid down the hill toward what could presumably be their doom.

"This is where wearing skirts does not come in handy," Yumi mentioned trying to keep her skirt from flying up.

"You think? Thank gods there's no guys here. Puppymon, no offence."

"None taken."

At the bottom of the hill the four came to a halt, managing to stay in a seated position. Luckily for them they were still in cover from the trees, but it was impossible for it to last for too long.

"Now what?" asked Yumi in a hush tone eyeing the Dorugamon.

"We need to make our way over to the side where the other trail is," Renamon answered pointing to the other side where a path seemed to be.

"Okay, but what about the others?" Victoria asked.

"We'll go back for them, but not right now we need to get out and trace our steps. Without getting caught," Renamon assured.

"Easier said then done," Yumi said eyeing the Dorumon training.

"Listen, on the count of three, we make a run for it okay? If that makes you any more at ease."

"Still not," argued Yumi, her voice low now facing Renamon.

"You two shut up, I think they heard us," Puppymon scolded.

"What?" asked Renamon and Yumi in unison.

Looking up, the girls found themselves face to face with a group of Dorumon. The leader that was right in front of them looked livid with the intrusions.

"Oh crap," was all that escaped Yumi's mouth.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" growled the Dorugamon.

"Trespassers," answered some.

"Intruders," accused another.

"Spies!" declared another.

"Do we seriously look like spies to you?" argued Yumi, getting all defensive. "We're not trespassers. Look, we're sorry for just dropping in like this, we were just passing through."

"Likely story. We've heard a great deal about you, though," the Dorugamon leader said referring to the three girls.

"Then why don't you believe that we are not intruders, trespassers or spies?" shot Victoria.

"Because there is no trusting any of you. You could be in disguise or be working for Etemon."

"Are you kidding me? You are accusing us of working for someone that we don't even know?"

"Take them prisoner!"

"Oh for fu…" Yumi seethed as a Dorumon nudged her back pushing her to another location in the camp along with Puppymon, Kiva, Victoria and Renamon.

"Wonder if the others are having as much problems as we are?" Victoria wondered.

Meanwhile, deep in the tangled forest the others were making an attempt to move through the forest hoping to get somewhere, anywhere that didn't require them being permanent attractions in the forest. Or worse, coming face to face with a creature that could potentially kill them.

"This is what happens when we split up. Why the chaos triplets had to go up ahead of us is beyond me," Mark said as he ducked down to avoid a branch

"Because the three of them are able to manoeuvre in the dark and they treat this like their own personal playground. They are night dwellers," Yukito explained sort of defending the girls.

"They could of at least waited for us," James remarked.

"We never would have been able to keep up with them. It's a good thing that they did go ahead of us, they could scope out the possible dangers that are around."

"Two things I have to know. One, how could they possibly find us now? It's impossible. Two, why are you defending them?" asked Tora curious now.

"One, they're smart, especially Yumi. Two, I've hung out with them before, I have grown attracted to their ways of thinking. If that makes any sense. So in a way, I feel the need to defend them as friends," Yukito explained.

"But you don't even act like them," James said.

"Not in that way, but I do hold a high respect. We just have an agreement that we'll keep our friendship on the down low."

"That explains how you know so much about them. Sorry for doubting you," Robert said apologetically.

"Shouldn't we keep moving? Just standing in here, we could have an ambush on our hangs if anything is out there," piped up Bearmon.

The group had stopped moving when Yukito went into his whole explanation. The area was tangled and impossible to move, but something eerie seem to pop up now and again and the digimon were on the worried side.

Lalamon sat on top of Tora's head hoping that the height would help her detect danger faster. Gaomon moved in closer to Mark in a protective position, his arms raised ready to attack. Penguinmon turned his head from side to side thinking he could hear noises. Bearmon stayed close to James ready for anything that came through. Tentomon on the other hand hovered about Robert's head listening intently. Shaomon was safe in Kisho's arms.

As for Robert, James, Kisho, Mark, Tora and James, the five looked around anxiously feeling the worry from their digimon. Their hearts began to race with fear that their adventures would be over soon.

Back at the campsite, Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Renamon and Puppymon were sitting in a tight circle surrounded by three Dorumon who had their backs turned to them.

"This is becoming more an a nuisance than ever. The others are still trapped in the forest and we're here with severely pissed off Dorumon and Dorugamon!" whispered Yumi angrily to her friends.

"They could probably be some place safe by now. Who is to say what could have happened in the last little while," Renamon whispered back.

"Enough with you're talking prisoners," scolded one of the Dorumon.

"And what if we don't?" shot back Victoria.

"Do you truly wish to see what we truly can do?" asked another viciously.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my Doc Martins," Kiva replied sarcastically.

"That's is, I'll be teaching you a lesson you'll never forget!" roared the third Dorumon.

"Please tell me you three have a plan and not just trying to piss them off," hissed Renamon, eyeing their captors.

"Wait for it!" Yumi breathed not even moving her lips.

The three began to charge up getting ready to send out their attack, Metal cannon. Fury filled them with each step they took.

"Metal…" called out all three.

"Yumi!" Renamon and Puppymon hissed.

"Wait for it!" Yumi replied as calmly as she could as she got herself ready to move.

"Can…"

"Yumi!" shouted Renamon and Puppymon now. Victoria and Kiva both looked over at Yumi nodding.

"…non…"

"Now!" screamed Yumi as a cannon came flying out of the Dorumon's mouth aiming right at them.

Renamon and Victoria rolled to the right, Puppymon and Kiva rolled to the left while Yumi scrambled to her feet moving out of the way dodging any serious damage.

"Renamon!" Victoria said facing her partner with determined eyes as she held tight to her digivice. Renamon looked at her partner, something in her eyes told Victoria to hold off on the evolution.

'_Puppymon, digivolve!'_ Kiva thought to Puppymon with the same determine look.

Both of the digimon stared into each others eyes nodding as a grin formed on their faces.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Wolfmon stood next to Renamon who was ready to face the Dorumon. Looks of fury were in the eyes of Renamon and Wolfmon as each barred their teeth at their captors.

"Does Renamon know what she's going?" Yumi asked.

"Yep, and I trust her. She wants to prove herself and the only way to do that is fighting without digivolving," Victoria replied with ease watching her partner.

"Diamond storm!" shouted Renamon.

"Wolf blast!"

"Metal cannon!"

Renamon sent out the diamond shards raining down on the Dorumon while the cannons were sent into the forest narrowly missing Wolfmon in the process. Moving in quickly, Wolfmon sent out a silvery-white fire-like flame from his mouth aiming directly at the angry Dorumon. A few of them were scorched by the fire but nothing to the extent of officially hurting them. Wolfmon let out a low growl threateningly as he charged again at the one closes to him as he went to bite down on him neck refusing to let go.

"Power paw!"

The other two unexpected digimon were in shock as soon as Renamon's hands and feet were surrounded by blue fire as she went on the offensive and started to attack them.

"Awesome work you two!" called out Victoria with a smirk.

"What is going on here?" Dorugamon demanded angrily.

The three girls turned to look at him, their entire bodies tensed as if ready to fight. Renamon stopped pummelling the two Dorumon and faced the leader. Her arms were in fire mode still covered in flames, challenging him to fight her. Wolfmon refused for some time to release the Dorumon, but seeing Dorugamon's glare he reluctantly released him.

"I never would have expected something like this to occur. You allowed the prisoners to get the upper hand on you. And you also allowed two digimon to attack you. And by the sight of it, they actually succeeded in beating you. A rookie to be exact! As well as a champion!" roared Dorugamon.

A cold shiver went down Yumi's spine hearing his roar. They weren't kidding when they say digimon flee when seeing his shadow, he was bad news. She thought there was a reason to give the ultimate respect, and why she was so keen on seeing them up close.

"We're sorry, sir. We were not expecting them to get the jump on us," replied on of the Dorumon who had endured Renamon's punishment. There was a hint of fear in his voice, but he never showed it.

"I must say, I underestimated the likes of you. You have more power in you then you let on," Dorugamon replied impressed, his voice seemed to be a little more softer than it was. The triplets loosened down and stared at him in surprise. Was this seriously coming from the same digimon that was close to having them killed?

"Um…thank you?" Yumi replied unsteadily.

"Not to be rude or anything. But why all of a sudden have a change of heart about us? I mean, we are thankful of course, but it doesn't make sense that you were seconds away from killing us, to all of a sudden being impressed with Renamon and Wolfmon," asked Victoria now curious. She stood before him, her arms crossed in front of her. Something in her eyes gave off a gleam of determination, something that was burning in Renamon's eyes.

"You have proven yourselves. Many digimon cannot do that, especially when they are destined for greater power."

Yumi, Kiva and Victoria looked at each other shrugging. They were not about to argue with a digimon who was going to let them go.

All of a sudden Victoria's tag began to glow a bright white. She raised her eyebrow in confusion and wonder.

"What's going on?" she asked aloud.

"I think you might have found your crest," Renamon commented staring in the distance as a midnight blue light shone from the ground. The light rose up like when Gennai sent them his hologram.

"So the first crest has been located," murmured Yumi holding back her bitterness.

Victoria strolled over to the light cautiously thinking something bad could come of this, or a booby trap had been laid. Renamon strolled next to her ready to protect her at a moments notice thinking the same thing. On the ground was a faint symbol of a yin yang sign. Victoria could feel the light fill her very body as the symbol shrunk into a tiny little square just enough to fit into the tag.

"This must be the crest of balance," Renamon remarked amazed staring at Victoria as the light died downed.

"And how fitting it is when you posses the same markings on you," commented Victoria smiling at her friend.

"Hey, I just realized something. Aren't we forgetting something?" piped up Yumi all of a sudden looking into the forest.

"Oh crap, the others are still in the forest," groaned Victoria feeling bad that they forgot about them. (Honestly, it was nice to actually not to hear the complaining and whining).

Back in the forest, Tora was getting fed up with constantly seeing dead ends and the annoyance of no one coming to get them.

"Its official, we've been in here for three hours. I think they've forgotten us."

"Don't say that, they could be just as lost as we are," replied Kisho trying to look on the bright side.

"He's got a point, it is getting darker," commented Mark.

"Let's stop for now. The deeper we get, the most lost we become," Yukito suggested.

"Agreed!" chorused the digimon and Robert.

No one was going to argue, they were all exhausted and wanted to collapse. The digimon were already on the verge of passing out then and there.

"I say in the morning we continue," declared Robert trying to give them some relief.

"No arguments there."

Sounds of slicing could be heard somewhere in the distance causing the weary digimon to jolt into protective mode and prepare for what could be coming.

Heavy footsteps sounded after every crash. All of a sudden, the kids were terrified that they were done for.

"Holy crap, we are dead," whined Tora.

"Guys, be ready to digivolve in a moments notice, okay?" James said nervously.

"Got it," chorused the digimon.

"What? You're going to actually attack us?" Yumi's voice sounded.

"Say what?"

"A thank you would suffice you know," Victoria simply said calmly.

"Where?"

Up ahead leaning again three trees grouped together were Yumi, Victoria and Kiva with their arms crossed in front of them.

"You actually came back for us," cried Kisho happily.

"You thought we were going to leave you in here?" Puppymon and Kiva said.

"Yes," replied James, Mark, Bearmon and Gaomon together.

"Ouch. That hurt," Yumi replied resting her hand over her heart feigning hurt.

Without so much another word the group made their way through the open forest toward the three girls.

"How did you get through the forest?" asked Robert curiously.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Renamon couldn't have done all this," replied Penguinmon.

"Who says she even did this?" a new deep voice asked.

"What was that?"

"That would be Dorugamon. Be thankful he decided to help get you."

"Dudes, how can you trust this type of digimon?"

"Seriously? Be grateful. They aren't as bad as you think."

"So what are we going to do about sleep?" asked Kisho, who let out a yawn.

"Come back to the camp with us. Please, it'll be an honour."

"Oh thank god a place to stay," sighed Tora happily.

Yumi strolled over to Kisho who was leaning against a tree with his eyes half opened.

"Come on Kisho, you can ride of my back."

"Shouldn't Mark be the one to do that?" asked Gaomon.

"Sure, the one who is ready to crash himself? I don't think so," snapped Yumi kneeling down to one knee.

Kisho wrapped his arms around Yumi's neck as she stood up holding on to his legs that were wrapped around her waist. Shaomon rested upon Kisho's head peacefully sleeping.

At the campsite an hour late, the seventeen were in a large tent with blankets on the ground giving something other than dirt to sleep on. They already had their fill of food when they returned to the camp. Everyone, except for Yumi, Victoria, Renamon, Puppymon and Renamon were a little sceptical about dealing with the Dorumon and Dorugamon's. But they did have to admit, at least they were generous enough to allow them a place to stay.

The moon was finally up in the sky along with twinkling stars. Everyone was fast asleep except for Robert, Victoria, Yumi and Renamon. The four were off in a little area by the water just outside of the tent talking in low voices not wanting to disturb the others.

"Well if Gennai is right, you'll be able to have Renamon digivolve into her ultimate form," Robert said holding on to Victoria's tag observing the crest.

"As much as I would love to see her in her next form, I don't want to rush anything. She's perfect the way she is and her strength is just as great," Victoria retorted looking at Renamon, a smiling spreading on her face.

"Since our first day here, you were the first to show just how much determination you have," Robert remarked.

"He has a point, think of it; ever since I know you, you have never backed out of a challenge. This proves it."

"I am eager to see the next stage too, but it's still too soon for us," remarked Victoria taking the tag from Robert.

"I agree with Victoria. There is no need to rush things," replied Renamon defensively.

The four went quiet for a little bit, Victoria went back to staring at her tag and crest mesmerized somehow by the yin yang symbol. She wondered why she would be destined to receive balance, there was nothing balanced in her life. It was clouded and chaotic. Was this actually telling her something different?

"Hey, hello, all you punk kids, get out here now uh huh huh," came a voice from outside. Bearmon and Gaomon woke up groggily as they sat up with no problem. Both stared at the tent opening with blearily eyes trying to understand what was going on.

"What is all that racket?" asked Gaomon.

"Guys, we have a problem," Renamon called from the opening of the tent.

Outside was a giant monkey holding a microphone in one hand, a guitar strapped over his over shoulder and sunglasses on. There was no telling what exactly his mood truly possessed, but he sounded pretty furious about something.

"Who is that?" asked James exiting the tent.

"That's Etemon," replied Bearmon.

"He looks like he resembles Elvis. Do you think he got reincarnated as a Digimon?" joked Mark.

"Oh very funny," Yumi replied rolling her eyes.

"You rotten kids have ruined all my glorious plans. For this I'm going to punish you all with this number I just wrote. It's called wrecking the whole place!"

"Wrecking the whole place?" James gasped.

"Do you truly think he could do that?" asked Tora.

"Oh, we're shaking in our leather black Doc Martins," called out Victoria sarcastically in a challenging way.

"How dare he enter our campsite," growled the Dorugamon leader joining the gang's side.

"I take it the two of you have not been able to cope together?" asked Yukito.

"He's been trying to corrupt all of us and turn us against each other for years. He hasn't learned his lesson yet. Do you see the stitches on his left arm?"

"Yeah?"

"I personally gave him that years ago after he attempted to crash this place."

"You're going to pay! Dark network concert crash!"

The ground began to rumble as black cables rose up from the ground hovering in the air as an electrical surge went through them. Etemon let out an evil laugh as the attack began to destroy the campsite.

"Well to answer your question Yukito, apparently he can."

"Company assemble!" shouted Dorugamon.

The Dorimon, Dorumon, and Dorugamon's came running over to them ready for action. They were furious at the destruction of their camp. (Seriously who wouldn't?)

"Metal cannon!" shouted the Dorumon group sending out cannons aiming directly at the hologram and supposedly where Etemon stood watching.

"Power metal!" shouted the Dorugamon. The group shot out metal orbs from their mouth.

Although their attacks we for the best, they were far beyond effective. They were still too far away from Etemon to do any real damage. And while they're attention was directed at him their camp was still getting destroyed.

"Guys, help out. The Dorumon and Dorugamon can't hold him off for long," called out Victoria.

"Got it! Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

The three champion digimon stood in front of the humans defensively as they let out a threatening growl.

"Do you truly think you can defeat me? Dark network concert crash!" called out Etemon as he ran over the cords on his guitar sending out more electrical surges.

Yumi covered her ears hoping to block out his voice. "Okay, this is getting really annoying!"

"Does rock and roll have that affect in your world?" asked Gaomon.

"Only with our parents. Trust me on that…this is nothing to a Slipknot concert," smirked Victoria.

"What's Slipknot?"

"You don't want to know," answered Tora.

Kyubimon, Wolfmon and Grizzlymon struggled to remain on their feet as the concert crash began to do some massive harm to them. Victoria stood her ground trying her hardest to keep strong for Kyubimon. She didn't know what she was going to do in the long run. She might have the crest, but it meant nothing to her unless she knew how it worked.

"Grizzlymon, no!" shouted James.

Victoria looked over to see Grizzlymon de-digivolve back to Bearmon. Howlmon soon did the same thing. Some how or another Kyubimon was the only one not to back off.

"Dragon wheel!"

Leaping into the air her body turned into a fire wheel aiming directly at Etemon. A surge of power burned through Kyubimon and connected to Victoria. She could feel a surge of fire build in her body, and burn in her eyes.

"So, you truly think that you can easily bypass my attacks? We'll see about that," Etemon sneered as Kyubimon landed on the ground as her attack never reached the large Etemon.

"What does he mean?" shot Victoria, eyes burning angrily as she kept them fixated upon Etemon.

"It means Kyubimon needs to get out of there, now!" Dorugamon growled noticing Etemon preparing for another attack.

Victoria noticed this as well, her eyes widened at the horror that could fall on Kyubimon. Kyubimon obviously didn't realize this as she went to attack again.

"Kyubimon! Get out of there!" screamed Victoria as she prepared to run toward her digimon.

"Victoria, no! It's too dangerous!" Yumi yelled holding Victoria back who struggled in her arms to break free.

"I have to protect Kyubimon!"

"Listen to me, there is no sense getting hurt yourself!" reasoned Yumi.

"Dark Network!"

It all came way too fast, Etemon sent out a black orb spiralling toward Kyubimon. She didn't move in time and got the full surge course through her body. A blood curdling scream escaped her mouth as she dedigivolved to Renamon then down to Viximon. Whatever was in that attack was more powerful than she could handle.

Victoria broke away from Yumi's grasp running at top speed toward her unconscious digimon.

Etemon stood above them laughing wickedly. "You don't stand a chance against the likes of me!"

"Viximon, are you okay?" Victoria asked frantically gently picking up the still body.

"I'm…so…sorry Victoria, I have failed."

"No, you didn't failed. You were amazing. But we need to get out of here now!"

"Or so you think!" Etemon roared.

"Metal power!" yelled five Dorugamon.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?"

"Victoria, run we can hold him off," the leader commanded standing before Victoria and Viximon.

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Now go!"

Victoria held Viximon close as she darted through the exploding campsite back to her friends.

"We need to leave, now!" Victoria gasped.

"What ab…"

"They're fine. But we need to go!"

Without any more arguing the group hightailed it through the forest away from the fight. Hoping they were safe.

"I hate running away," Gaomon growled.

"Don't think it as running away, merely regrouping," Lalamon suggested.

**A/N: Okay, few things about this chapter. I am fully aware that its long, I just hope I didn't drag it out. I decided to add some elements in from the show. About the Dorugamon, yes, they are a feared group, because they are a docile group, I changed it so the girls just had to prove themselves. As well, when Etemon attacked Grizzlymon, Howlmon and Kyubimon, only Grizzlymon and Howlmon dedigivolved, I wanted to have Kyubimon prove herself. We all know how that ended. Hope you guys enjoyed it, I would love to hear feedback about this. Please no flames. Constructive critism only, that includes telling me about spelling mistakes. And helpful ideas only please. Greatly appreciated. Peace! ^^**


	16. Victoria’s doubts and frozen crests

**A/N: First of all, thank you to ProtogirlT, San Child of the Wolves and White Hunter for your comments, they are just fabulous, and make my day. So anyway, a little heads up on this chapter, I really let out the emotions of the chaos triplets, it's their time to vent their rage. Yes, there is a little more swearing in this, it's just their attitudes getting out. So be advised. I also don't own Slipknot. And I also believe this is the longest chapter too.**

Chapter 16

Victoria's doubts and frozen crests

Monologue: Yumi

So, we've encountered our new enemy already. Didn't realize that it would be so soon. This time we get to deal with a crazed, Elvis wannabe digimon known as Etemon. One very annoying digimon. He attacked a Dorumon and Dorugamon camp causing a few of our digimon to help protect it. I already know that Victoria wants to get her revenge. Etemon attacked Kyubimon causing her to dedigivolved all the way back to Viximon. On a lighter note; we have discovered the first crest. Victoria's crest of balance. I just hope she knows how to use it properly.

"That was horrible. I can't believe he made me resort back to Viximon," Viximon complained as she walked just behind Victoria. The other digimon were gathered around her hoping to keep her company.

"Don't worry, you'll digivolve again. You just need to get something in you, as well as some rest. In no time you'll be Renamon," reassured Lalamon.

"I'm just worried that Victoria will be disappointed in me," answered Viximon glumly.

"You can't always look on the bad side, Viximon, that's what Yumi, Victoria and Kiva have always said, and you've agreed with them. That you have to look past the entire let downs and look at the ups," Puppymon said knowingly.

Viximon let out a sigh as she looked at all the digimon around her. She knew they had a point. Somehow or another, she didn't want to listen to it. She just didn't know why. She doubted herself now about everything. It had been four days since leaving the camp and still she hated to remember what had occurred.

Kiva and Yumi were on either side of Victoria. The others followed closely behind, still a little hesitant about being near them just yet. Just like their digimon, their conversation went in the same direction.

"I can't believe that jerk did that! He got the jump on us! We weren't ready!" stormed Victoria as both her hands balled up into fists and continued to pulsate every second.

Her anger rose greatly within her, something that was never shown too often. This was something that only Yumi portrayed, not Victoria. If flames could actually erupt from her body, she would be a walking human torch.

"Victoria, you can't beat yourself up, it is not your fault. None of us were prepared for the attack," Tora reassured, hoping that something in her words could calm her down.

Victoria stopped dead in her tracks and whipped around. "That's what I don't understand Tora. Why weren't we prepared? We knew what we were expecting back at File Island. Now all of a sudden, it's as if we are becoming weaker!" snapped Victoria.

"Why are you getting all in a huff about this? I'm sure we can get him the next time," James cautiously said his hands raised in a surrender position.

"What if we can't? What if he attacks us again and we are not prepared? Then what? We'll be back at square one!" shot Victoria eyes blazing.

Yumi remained at her side but didn't bother to get involved, she knew how her friend's initial reaction would be and she didn't want to be responsible for her friend storming off.

Kiva, herself, felt torn between what to do. Obviously there wasn't anything she could say to make her feel better. And she wasn't one for touchy feely sentiments. Defeated, Kiva looked down at Puppymon for any suggestions she could possibly get.

Puppymon shook his head knowing exactly what the humans were going through. He could see that Viximon felt rejected, shameful and disappointed in herself for letting Victoria down. Hearing Victoria's scornful words, he didn't need to analyze much to realize that she was furious about the run in. Puppymon knew that Victoria wasn't angry at her digimon, but Viximon thought otherwise.

"Victoria, I'm sure we'll be prepared for the next encounter. You have to remember on File Island we weren't ready either. We had to excel at every digimon we saw," Mark responded dryly.

"What's that suppose to mean? That we're going to have to battle more digimon before facing Etemon, and somehow digivolve to the next form along the way?" seethed Victoria.

She truly was ready to snap and lash out at everyone, not just with words, but physically too.

"Victoria, you need to calm down, okay? This isn't good on yourself, or your digimon. You need to remember that Viximon has always been by your side and the two of you are just as strong as everyone else. You can't let one defeat get the better of you. I know you are upset, but you don't have to take it out on everyone else," Yukito intervened. He shot a look to Yumi as if to ask _'why couldn't you step in? You're her friend'_. Yumi looked at him desperately trying to explain that she knew how her friend worked, emotionally and physically.

Victoria narrowed her eyes down to slits, furious that he dare get in between her and everyone else.

"How dare you say that to me Yukito. How dare you! Where were any of you when Kyubimon went after Etemon on her own? I didn't see any of you try to help her," Victoria's voice was dangerously low. Yumi knew it very well. It always meant back off right now, or we have a war on our hands. Yumi had only been on that side of the argument a couple of time in the past, it was time when their friendship was in jeopardy of falling apart.

"Vic…" Yukito started, but immediately stopped when he caught Yumi's glare.

"Just leave her alone all right? We're all on a stressful time right now. We haven't exactly had a goodnights sleep in over four days now and we're all a little high strong," Yumi stated coming between Yukito and Victoria.

"Oh look who finally decided to speak up," shot Mark.

"Enough, all right. Fuck! Sorry that I kept quiet this long, but I know what Victoria is like when she gets like this - don't you dare say anything!" warned Yumi pointing at Victoria. "If we don't find a place to sleep, we're going to be at each other's throats for a long time. Yes, I am fully aware I am the only one who pulls the same bull shit and doesn't give a fuck about working together, but you know what? I still don't, but it doesn't mean I'm not afraid to try," Yumi replied coldly, she could feel her emotions rise up inside of her.

"I agree with Yumi, we're all tired, we only got a couple of hours back at the camp and that was only time we actually had sleep. I say we stop here for now and we'll continue on in the morning," Robert piped up.

"Whatever," Victoria scoffed annoyed raising her arms in the air and stalking off.

"Vic…" called out Yukito.

"Leave her, she needs to calm down. This is her time," Yumi assured him. Looking down, Yumi could see a very hurt Viximon, who was trying to keep it together for her partner. "Viximon, go with her. She needs you more than she does one of us!"

Viximon nodded her head as she took off through the forest in the direction of Victoria. She didn't know exactly what she was going to say to her. She had never felt like this before. Even when she first met Victoria, she held a little more strength and courage inside of her. But now? Was she just falling apart?

~Flashback~

"I'm…so…sorry, I have failed, Viximon said weakly.

"You didn't fail, you were amazing," replied Victoria happily picking her digimon up in her arms.

~End flashback~

Victoria came up to a thick, black locust tree after some time. The branches were low enough for her to easily pull herself up the tree. But something held her back. She felt no remorse for yelling at the others, and she felt no reason to shed a tear. There was no need to display any emotion, well except the frustration that built up inside of her.

She didn't know what else to do. She had so many options, kick the defenceless tree even though it had done nothing to her; start swearing at the top of her lungs, hoping she would feel better.

All of the options seemed fine in her head, but they weren't the best answer. What she desperately required was to meditate, but couldn't calm herself down to allow it.

~Flashback~

"Do you wish to maintain your anger in a way of meditation?" Renamon asked after Victoria told her she was never good at controlling her emotions.

"You have no idea how long I've been yearning to go into that secluded area," Victoria answered.

Renamon turned her body so she was facing Victoria's side. Victoria decided to follow suit to make it easier for her to learn.

"Follow my directions all right? Close your eyes," Renamon instructed. Victoria did so; everything in her world went black. "I want you to take three deep calming breaths, after which go back into regular breathing. Feel your body begin to sink into a restful position. Let everything around you disappear. Drop every hope, every idea, and every worry. This is your time…"

~End flashback~

Renamon's voice was still clear in her head of how to deal with her emotions. Sliding down the tree, Victoria sat cross legged as she took three deep breaths. She could slowly feel her racing heart slow down. Her body began to sink into a restful state, as she breathed normally.

"Drop every hope, every idea, and every worry. This is your time," Renamon's voice whispered in her head.

She never realized how quickly her body could actually slip into a calm state where moments ago she was ready to murder.

As she sat there calmly, in the back of her head Victoria still wondered just how she got lucky to get Viximon. Was it just fate that sent her to her? Or was it something more? She didn't get it. Now all the questions and doubts about having her partner filled her head. Yes, the two were compatible in every way, they were both determined about everything, and strong willed. There was never a day that passed by that she wasn't grateful for having such a great digimon. But there had to be more.

The moon that shone above her filtered through the trees cascading her in the nocturnal light. Her skin shone an eerie glow in the moonlight. Her black hair shone brightly bringing out the purple. She looked like a night fairy ready to embrace the darkness.

Quietly strolling through the forest, Viximon spotted Victoria sitting in a beam of moonlight. It had taken her half an hour of searching, but she was no giving up the search that quickly. A smile spread across her face when she found her human partner. Running up to her, Viximon leapt into her lap not wanting to disturb her from her meditation. She felt so honoured to have Victoria as a partner. Her spirit was strong just like hers never wanting to give up a fight. Although Viximon had her doubts about Victoria, especially when Victoria got angry, she didn't allow that to take over her life.

The moon shone on both of them now giving some comfort to both. Viximon felt extremely happy now. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could remember it being said that one who raises a Viximon are said to be held in high regard. Maybe that's why the two were so strong together. The two were probably brought together because of their intrigue of the darkness.

Further back with the other group, everyone was all seated around a blazing fire. Yumi stared longingly into the flames not even paying attention to the conversation around her, her mind was too preoccupied upon Victoria. She was concerned about her friend's safety.

"….so we're all in agreement, first thing in the morning, we'll continue on our journey," Robert's voice entered Yumi's head.

Yumi lifted her head to look around at her surroundings, to her left was Kiva and Puppymon in the same longing stare into the fire, no doubt in their own private conversation. To her right was Yukito and Penguinmon, both were silently talking about something, but it was impossible to hear. Beside them was Robert, Tentomon, James, Bearmon, Tora, Lalamon, Mark, Gaomon, Kisho and Paomon. Kisho of course was ready to crash, he was trying his hardest to be one of the older kids and stay up with them.

"Agreed," everyone chorused, excluding Kiva, Yumi and Kisho.

Yumi turned her attention to Kiva, even at a side view Yumi could tell she was forcing herself to stay awake but to no avail.

"Kiva, probably be wise for us to get some sleep. You can barely keep your eyes open," whispered Yumi lightly touching her friends arm to get her attention.

Kiva faced her with bleary eyes. She lightly nodded her head, slightly snapping out of her tired state.

"I still can't believe that we haven't had a full sleep yet. Yumi, you haven't slept in two weeks now," Puppymon mentioned concerned about her well being.

"I've forced myself to change my sleeping patterns. It wasn't difficult. But I think now will be a best time for some shut eye."

"Three hundred and thirty six hours of unknown sleep can not be a good thing," Puppymon commented.

Without saying another word, Yumi laid out fully on the ground, her body grateful for the rest it desperately deserved.

The others followed suit soon after. They saw no need to keep watch for the night.

In the distance, Victoria was out of her meditation state and lying curled on the ground, her bag used as a pillow. She looked like she just tipped over to her side and crashed. Viximon nestled right up against her hoping to keep her warm. Victoria was surprised and happy to have her digimon by her side. She knew that she could never fully lose Viximon. Not by being furious or by battle. Viximon was like her guardian and nothing was going to take her away.

Morning arisen hours later causing the gang to wake with a struggle as the light shone down upon them. The digimon were the first to wake up welcoming the light and stretching their bodies to fully wake themselves up. None of the children were even budging from their spots on the ground. Yumi and Kiva automatically rolled over trying to avoid the light. Puppymon was the only one not to be awake with the other digimon. He was curled up next to Kiva, like a small dog would.

"So much for getting an early start. Do you think we should wake them up?" asked Penguinmon.

"I'm not sure Mark will be overly thrilled for the rude awakening," answered Gaomon tilting his head over to his human partner who was resting peacefully on his back with his hands on his stomach.

"How long do you think we should allow them their rest?" asked Lalamon looking over at Tora who was curled up on the ground.

"How about right now? If they were suppose to be awake now, then why aren't they?" asked a female voice through the trees.

Turning around, all the digimon saw Victoria leaning against a tree with her arms crossed in front of her (seems to be a very popular stance with her), with Viximon standing in front of her.

"Victoria, you've returned," cried out the digimon.

"Do you truly think I would leave?" Victoria asked. _'Mind you, it wouldn't be a bad idea,'_ she thought. Although the meditation seemed to calm her down, her attitude seemed to remain.

"James! Mark! Tora! Kisho! Yukito! Robert! Kiva! Yumi! It's time to go!" called out all the digimon, excluding Viximon and Puppymon.

"Whazima?" a tired Yukito and Robert mumbled. Robert lifted his head up from Yukito's chest to look around at his surroundings.

"Where's the snooze button?" grumbled James.

"There better be a good reason for the rude awakening," Mark snapped sitting up.

"Five more minutes," moaned Tora.

"I don't want to get up," moaned Kisho.

"Let's move it everyone, we need to make the best of the light we have," demanded Victoria.

Yumi, Kiva and Puppymon were the only ones not to move. The others were up after hearing Victoria's voice. Of course, it'll take more than just someone calling their names to wake them up. For Yumi, not even her own mother could wake her. A scornful yelling battle could possibly do the trick, give or take the day.

As for Kiva, nothing could wake her up. If someone were to succeed in waking her up, she would give them the death glare before storming off. What none of them knew was that, the only way for the wake up was being threatened by her mother.

"Yumi, Kiva, come on you two," Victoria said kneeing right beside them. She wasn't afraid of their attitudes.

Obviously, there was no reaction from the two of them. This was something she knew would happen and was expecting.

"YUMI! KIVA!"

"Fuck off and let me sleep!" Yumi seethed rolling over.

"Come on, it's just me," Victoria said.

"Bugger off, I have a knife and I'm not afraid to use it," Yumi mumbled.

Victoria rolled her eyes at Yumi's empty threat. Kiva slowly opened her blurry eyes and glared at Victoria for a minute. Victoria could tell she was pissed, but she didn't care.

"I have Slipknot tickets!" Victoria taunted in a sing-song voice.

"I'm awake!" Yumi bolted up right looking around half expecting to see proof.

"Only way for you to wake up," sighed Victoria.

"I hate you," Yumi grumbled rubbing her face with both her hands.

After five minutes of getting themselves fully awake and mobile, the group made their way further and further away from the forest into more of an open area. For five days now they had been travelling north in an unknown direction. Thankfully it wasn't into a desert. None of them knew exactly where they were going, it was all just guess work. Everyone kept quiet the entire way, no one wanted to bring up the issue from the night before. They all knew that Yumi and Kiva would defend Victoria and would have a fight on their hands.

Victoria, Kiva, Yumi, Robert and Yukito all walked in the back, wanting some peace from the others.

"So what do you think Viximon's ultimate form would be like?" mused Victoria.

"Not sure, bet it'll be something amazing," Yukito mused.

"I just hope that you'll be able to understand more of the crest before trying anything," Robert said flatly.

"You think I'm not capable of figuring this thing out for myself and being responsible?" Victoria snapped glaring at Robert.

"Victoria that is not what I'm saying. I'm just saying we should be careful, especially when it comes to your emotions, I'm not sure what effects will come of this, but I don't think it would be good on your digimon. Remember, the only way that a digimon can digivolve is with energy. For example, they can't digivolve if they're hungry. More importantly, the partner must be in danger for that to occur. I'm not saying that Viximon wouldn't be able to digivolve to her full level with all that. I've seen the way you two bond together. You, Victoria, don't even need to be in grave peril, she'll probably be able to digivolve into her next form," explained Robert. "But you have to remember to keep you emotions in check."

"Trust me, I'm not rushing into the whole digivolving thing. As for the emotions, you don't have to worry, I'll make sure they keep relatively levelled. I have no desire to push her beyond her comfort zone unless she is ready," Victoria replied looking down at Viximon.

"Good to hear," responded Yumi relieved.

"Hey, anyone know where we are going?" called back Tora after three hours of wandering.

"No, just keep heading straight. I have a good feeling about that," called Robert.

"Is that a wise idea?" asked Yukito worried that his boyfriend was not thinking straight.

The group continued their way down the same 'path' that they generally were on. A lot of their surroundings soon began to change after some time. The ground soon became rough and crunchy with every step. It didn't seem to be overly concerning to the humans. Most of the digimon who were walking on the ground could feel the difference in the style of the earth.

Further away, south from the digidestineds, Etemon was inside his trailer standing behind three Gazimon staring furiously at the monitors.

"You better watch out you digidestined brats. I'll find you no matter where you are hiding!"

One of the Gazimon that sat three chairs away from Etemon stared at the screen where a map was shown. A red sot resembling them could be seen, but no connection to the light purple dot, resembling the digidestined. It was as if they had disappeared from sight.

'_Oh, that's not a good sign,'_ thought the Gazimon grimly. "Uh…boss, you might want to look at the monitor."

"What is it?" asked Etemon coldly heading over to the Gazimon.

"I know you don't want to hear any bad news, but we've lost contact with those digidestined."

"WHAT?!" roared Etemon glaring at the monitor. There was absolutely no sign of the light purple dot. Etemon was furious. "How is it possible that we lost sign of them?" demanded Etemon ready to thrash at anything and everything.

Only problem that he was facing and didn't realize was, he was travelling in the sand region, far south than what the digidestined were travelling. They were further North in the tundra region.

Back in the Northern region the group had been walking for seven hours and were getting no where. The ground became rocky and moss began to cover the earth. It was hard to believe that they could possibly be that far north.

"Okay, is it just me or does this place almost resemble the Arctic Tundra?" James asked stopping to rest his aching legs.

"It does, but it doesn't make any sense. We were just in the desert not that long ago," replied Mark feeling a cool wind blow through him.

"We have to remember, the digiworld is a complex place. But we have been wondering for hours, if not days. So obviously it makes sense that we could easily be in the far north region," answered Robert looking at the barren lands around him. Mountains rose in the distance giving hope that they were going to be in a safer location with protection.

"Okay, can we please take a break?" We have been walking for over seven hours. My feet are killing me!" Tora groaned dropping to her knees.

Yumi let out a strange noise that resembled an exasperated sigh and a groan. She had bypassed Tora during this time. She wanted to restrain her annoyance as best she could. She needed to prove that she was no longer the bitch she use to be.

"Yumi, you okay?" asked Victoria raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, just fine, just a tickle in the throat," lied Yumi hoping to cover up her lie.

"I say we take a half hour break, we desperately need it," Yukito announced crashing on the ground himself.

"I say we get something to eat as well. We haven't eaten since leaving the camp," Victoria suggested.

"Do we even have any food left that's even notably eatable?" asked Yumi kneeling on the ground.

"I had taken some of the food from the camp. The Dorugamon allowed me at least a week's worth of food for everyone. But it doesn't mean we should devour it either. This needs to last us as long as possible."

The group sat in a circle as Victoria took out different containers filled with different looking food inside.

"Oh boy, let's eat!" cried out the digimon as soon as the containers were open.

"Are we even sure this is going to last us with the endless bottom pits here?" Yukito motioned toward the digimon who were stuffing their faces with their share of the food.

"I'm positive that it will. I just hope that we'll be able to locate any food in this place," Victoria replied glumly as she stared at the open space.

Hours passed by since the group had started walking again. The sky began to descend in the distance. They were trekking up a side of a rocky and snowy mountain. The air began to get colder and colder as the gang continued their trek.

"Do we have any clue as to where we are going?" asked James.

"Not a clue, but the best bet would be to take refuge somewhere, a cave if possible," replied Robert.

"You have to be kidding me, a cave? Seriously?" argued Tora.

"It's the best choice we have. Think about it, it's out of the way of any trouble as well as the cold. The next question is, where would be the nearest one?" Yumi said scanning the area.

"Probably like another hour away," replied Robert pointing to the distance where the last remaining light surrounded the sky.

"We better get going…I assure you, when we get there, we'll have plenty of time to rest. I doubt we'll have any encounters with that Etemon loser," Yumi reassured seeing Tora's face.

With that being said, everyone continued their way down the snowy path closer and closer to the cave. The further they went, the further it got colder and colder. Tora wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm as best as she could. The guys didn't seem to mind, but it didn't mean that they weren't cursing the cold air. As for Yumi, Victoria and Kiva, their minds were kept off the thought of the cold, it was their way to keep warm.

"I am freezing, I wish we were there now," moaned Tora through chattering teeth.

Yumi opened her bag and began to dig through water bottles, remnants of food and other clothes. She knew that there was a sweater hiding somewhere in all the mess.

"Here Tora," Yumi said quietly handing Tora a black hooded sweater with a picture of a skull with wings on the back and one of her favourite bands on the front.

"Wha…what?" Tora stuttered looking at Yumi in shock.

"You said you were cold, so here."

Tora accepted it gratefully as she threw it over her head. The inside fabric was warm and comfy. She snuggled into it as she rubbed her hands over her arms.

"Wow, Yumi actually being nice."

"It won't be for long, trust me."

After some time the gang had made it to the cave, a sigh of relief escaping everyone. With no light outside to help them they blindly entered the cave praying there wasn't anything hiding in there, like bats or any other creatures. Well except for Yumi, Victoria and Kiva who would love to see one.

"Does anyone have my kind of light on them?" asked Mark.

"No!"

"Nope!"

"Wouldn't the digivices work somehow in the dark?" asked Yumi taking her digivice from her front pocket of her bag.

"I wouldn't see why not," agreed Robert.

The other seven adolescence took out their digivices and held them up high. A light began to shine from the screen and illuminated the cave. Yumi stepped in further to figure out what would be a good spot to set up a fire pit.

"Is there an actual way of lighting a fire without the essential?" Yumi asked hoping it'll be possible.

"No. Are you sure there is nothing around we can use?" Robert asked.

"I know for a fact there is nothing outside we can use and…"

"Hey, I think I found something," called Tora.

"What is it?" asked everyone turning around.

"Holy crap!" gaped Yumi.

Tora pointed to a pile of twigs, branches and other sticks near the front entrance. Everyone dropped their jaws in amazement.

"How did we not see that?"

"I think it was because we had no light until we were further in," replied James.

Gathering up the wood from the ground, Yumi brought it further to the back away from the opening. She set it up so the fire could easily catch. Digging through her bag she produced a small note book and lighter.

"Okay, why is it that she always takes over things?" asked Mark.

"Because brainiac, she knows how to set up bonfires and how to light them, after what happened back on File Island, she probably won't allow any of you near it again."

"Oh come on, we were having issues lighting," James replied.

"You almost burned your fingers," Victoria pointed out.

"Voila, fire!" Yumi announced standing up with a crackling fire beside her.

"Warmth!" cried out Tora happily running over to the fire.

"So what's the plan now?" asked Victoria her attention toward Robert.

"Stay here the night, then in the morning, we continue our way. Hopefully it'll lead us somewhere."

"Do you truly think that we'll be able to find anything in this land?" asked Tentomon.

"We'll have to try, we can't just stay here forever."

"I just hope that we'll be able to locate the other crests soon so we can digivolve further. Etemon will pay dearly," seethed Victoria staring into the flames.

"Just as long as you keep your emotions in check we should be fine," Robert replied cautiously.

Back in the sand region, Etemon was still on the lookout for the digidestined. He was furious that there hadn't been a single sign all day long. Now that night rolled in it was even more infuriating. He had his Gazimon in every sector searching for any remote sign of them, but came up empty handed.

"Where exactly could they be? Are you sure all of the sectors have been searched?" yelled Etemon.

"Well, there's still the northern region, the…um…the land where the Ikkakumon, Zudomon and Vikemon set up camp," one of the Gazimon informed nervously, understanding that Etemon was in no mood in going there.

"So be it, I'll have my lookout up there check things out," Etemon said.

Up in the Northern sector, far away from the cave, was a Gazimon curled up in a front of a fire hoping to find some sort of warmth.

"Sure, everyone gets to be in the warmer areas and I get this job. How did I get so unlucky?" complained the Gazimon.

All of a sudden a ringing noise could be heard from under him. Jumping up with fright, the Gazimon picked up the cell phone, pushed talk and held it to his ear.

"Hey little buddy, you might have some company up there in the northern region. Check it out and see if they're there."

"Sure thing boss," the partially frozen Gazimon said.

Disconnecting the line, the Gazimon put out the fire and took off through the frozen tundra.

Back in the cave everyone was fast asleep warm by the fire. No sounds could be heard outside the cave. A bright moon shone inside giving them some peace of mind. The digimon themselves were nestled by their partners hoping to keep them safe and warm.

Victoria found herself wide awake by the entrance of the cave staring at the moon high in the sky. Oh how she longed to be part of the nocturnal world, but didn't want to worry the others. (Even though she didn't care too much about that anyway). Viximon lay resting near a restless Yumi, mumblings could be heard from her, all nonsense of course. Somehow Victoria knew that it was possible that it was probably from a nightmare or the fact that she still felt hatred and frustration for not having her digimon.

'_More and more I worry that she might not be able to keep stable until she is finally happy. I wish there was something I could do to help,'_ thought Victoria grimly staring back at her friend, hurt in her eyes.

Turning back to the outside, she leaned her back against the rock cave and stared into the distance. Only good thing about their present location was, there was no place to pull a fast one.

As she stared into the distance, her mind began to drift back and forth between the real life around her to a dark part in her mind where all her blocked problems were put. She knew that all of it was just recently when she felt that it was all her fault for thinking that she was weaker than the rest of the group, not realizing that there was so much more potential in her. But she always felt that there was something stopping her from giving Viximon that ability.

As she sat staring into the darkness, behind her a light shone brightly causing her to look behind her wondering what it could possibly be.

Outside the cave miles away from where the children slept, Gazimon still ran through the barren land in search for any sign of the humans. He was in shock that Etemon couldn't pick up their signal from down there in the southern region. Then again, something could have been stopping the transmission from getting through. It was known to happen when the Ikkakumon, and Zudomon were out patrolling. Although the wires were hidden under the ground, it was still possible for them to destroy it by any means.

"They better be some place close by, I'm losing feeling in my entire body. I'm meant for the warmth, not the cold," Gazimon said bitterly.

He continued along the way in the same direction as the cave. There was still some time separating the groups, but it wouldn't take long for Gazimon to find them. As he continued his way, a light appeared in the distance. He knew that the sun wasn't up yet, that only meant one thing… "So that's where they are," Gazimon sneered. He stopped in his tracks and took out the cell phone and got a hold of Etemon.

Back in the cave everyone was now awake seeing as the light was filling the entire cave causing everyone to shield their eyes. It was a pure white light exactly the same from when Victoria found her crest.

"What is going on?" asked Yumi, eyes shut tight to avoid the blinding light.

"I don't know. Could it possibly be a crest?" asked Kisho.

"Could be," replied Robert.

Forcing their eyes open, the harsh glare disappeared leaving an orange light, which was softer than the last. At the back of the wall was an outline spiral symbol. There were three shapes in a circle, all three were curved.

"Do you think there is a reason for a crest to show up now?" Victoria asked. She was now curious as to how and why the crests appeared when they did.

"I don't truly see a rea…"

There was a sound of roaring coming from outside the cave causing everyone to jump and turn toward the entrance. Renamon and Gaomon were on either side looking out to see what was going on.

"We have company, I believe we might have been spotted," Renamon whispered turning back to the group.

"Do we want to know who it is?" asked James.

"Not really, but I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out for yourselves," Gaomon said grimly.

"Okay, take the risk; whose crest is it?" Yumi demanded, a hint of fear in her voice.

Before anyone could say anything, Yukito's tag began to glow orange like the light in the cave. "I think it's mine," Yukito announced holding up his tag.

Everyone stared in wonder as Yukito placed his tag up against the wall and watched as the symbol shrink into a tiny square big enough to fit into the tag.

"Which crest is it?" asked Kisho.

"I'm not exactly sure."

"Hey, look the wall disappeared!" exclaimed Tora.

"Well maybe something *did* come out of this," Victoria commented.

Looking on the other side a blast of cold came through sending a chill down each adolescence spine.

"Now we have two options, stay in here and deal with Etemon, or suffer the cold and explore the new area," Yumi said.

"New area!" everyone chorused with no hesitation. There was something in their voices that told her that danger was on its way.

"Renamon, how close?" asked Victoria eyeing her partner.

"He's right below us!" Renamon said watching as Etemon got out of the trailer and looked up to the opening of the cave.

"Run! Don't look back, just go! Hopefully there is a safe place we can hide," Yumi commented as calmly as she could. She looked into their terrified faces knowing that anything she said would be better than nothing.

Without any more delay, the group ran through the new opening taking off through the permafrost field. Just like the other side, there were rarity of trees in this part making it difficult to hide. Only the random evergreens in the far distance.

"Do you truly think we'll be safe here?" asked Lalamon.

"I hope so," replied Tora trying her hardest to trail after Yumi as best as she could.

Their foot steps crunching on the permafrost. Their breath was visible in the cold air as their breathing became heavy.

"We are not going to get out of here safely, there is no way," James said slowing down to catch his breath.

"Don't give up!" called back Yumi. She too, started to slow down when she looked behind her. "I think we're in the clear." she sighed.

"Are you sure?"

"Look behind you and tell me if you see his ugly face," Yumi replied resting her hand upon her racing heart.

The others all stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to see that no one was following them.

"Oh thank gods," breathed Victoria as relief came through her.

"Where now though?"

"How did you get here?" demanded a voice behind all of them.

"Not again," groaned Yumi slowly turning around.

There stood a large white walrus like creature with a horn on its forehead. He was covered in white fur with paws on each foot.

"That's Ikkakumon, he's one of the protectors of this region. He's a very gentle digimon unless provoked. His harpoon torpedo packs quite a punch," exclaimed Bearmon.

"First of all, we came through the cave over there. Second of all, no we are not intruders, spies or trespassers," Yumi quickly inputted before any of the others could say anything.

"How do I know you are not lying right now?" Ikkakumon asked.

"Look, we've been travelling for days, we're all exhausted, especially me. So excuse me if I sound a little bitchy. We are the digidestined, if you don't believe me, look," Yumi said showing her digivice to Ikkakumon.

"Come with me," Ikkakumon simply said turning away from the adolescence.

Yumi looked back at the others shrugging. "Might as well follow."

The seventeen followed closely behind Ikkakumon, everyone except Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and Yukito, cautiously turned around to make sure Etemon wasn't following them.

As they continued their walk, Yumi filled in Ikkakumon as best as she could with all the past adventures leading up to their current position. Of course she left out her random freak outs, only filling in on the details that needed to be told.

"So out of everyone, you've been wandering around in the digital world without a digimon? What makes you so sure that he'll be here?" Ikkakumon asked Yumi who was walking right next to him.

"Pretty much. But I think I've been driving everyone insane with my constant bitterness," Yumi responded.

"She thinks? Try she knows," Mark said in a hush voice.

Victoria and Kiva narrowed their eyes at each other before each cuffed him in the head. Mark let out a yelp and ducked.

"Ow, what the hell?"

"Be nice, don't complain," Victoria scolded.

After some time the group made it to a large camp filled with Ikkakumon, Zudomon that looked like a grey and orange walrus with what seemed to be a turtle shell, with large spikes coming from it. Zudomon was another protector of the region. His special attack was Hammer Spark, which swings his Thor Hammer on the ground causing a sparking shock wave to hit the opponent. The last group was Vikemon, a large version of the two groups. He had white fur with a brown skin wrapped around his shoulders with a helmet resembling that of a Viking helmet with two weapons on his back.

"Vikemon, I have brought the digidestined," Ikkakumon said to one of the Vikemon who seemed to be the leader.

The gang all stared up in wonder at the Vikemon, they seemed to have arrived when everyone was ready to start training. Although the sun might not have been up, the digimon seemed ready for training.

"Meet Vikemon, he governs over this land. He is the leader of the Ikkakumon and Zudomon. He has a thick sense of trust and a considerate nature. The weapons on his back are called Mjolnir," Tentomon analyzed.

"Welcome weary travellers. We have heard so much about you."

"You have?" the group chorused. Yumi felt a breath of relief leave her, she seriously thought that they were going to be goners.

"Yes, I was wondering when I actually get to meet you," Vikemon said pleasantly.

"It is an honour to be here then," Robert and James said.

"But I have to ask, what brings you to this part of the digital world?"

"Etemon," scoffed Yumi and Victoria folding their arms over their chest.

"Ah yes, we have dealt with him before. Do not worry, he can not come to this part of the land."

"With all due respect, but how can you be so sure? I mean can't Etemon just take over here easily?" asked Tora.

"She does have a point for once," Yumi stated.

"He has tried in the past, but has not succeeded. He has never been able to take all of us on, especially when he gets a blast of cold chill," explained Vikemon smirking.

"Excellent, so we don't have to be on our guard," sighed Mark.

"That doesn't mean that we can't train and prepared our digimon," Victoria commented spinning around to face Mark.

"Are you kidding me? I don't think any of us have slept a full night, and we haven't eaten yet either. And you're suggesting that we start training?" Mark asked incredulously.

"Come, we must feed our guests."

Sitting around a large campfire and surrounded by food, the gang salivated at the sight. They hadn't eaten in a day or more, but felt as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. Their rations of course were running low, so this made up for their starvation. It was also a blessing to regain their strength, especially for their digimon.

"Oh sweet, glorious food," Lalamon, Viximon and Bearmon drooled.

The digimon dived right into the food devouring the food like it was going out of style. As for the humans, they were a little more gracious with their food, taking their time with each bite, but it didn't stop them from stuffing their faces, except for Yumi, Victoria and Kiva who seemed content with little amounts of food.

"Vikemon, do you think I'll be able to train with you, Ikkakumon and Zudomon?" Victoria asked holding a half eaten apple in her hand observing it not looking up at Vikemon.

"I don't see why that would be a problem," Vikemon grinned.

Victoria smiled down at Viximon who sat right in front of her, with great anticipation, she was going to have a stronger digimon one way or another. Viximon of course was too busy filling her face to notice.

All of a sudden two white lights shone upon Paomon and Viximon. Both Victoria and Kisho looked down at their digimon in surprise.

"Paomon digivolve to…Shaomon!"

"Viximon digivolve to…Renamon!"

Paomon changed from the small white head digimon with pink ears and pink tail to the round white dog with the same pink ears, pink tail and four legs that they saw the first day of arrival to the digiworld. Kisho let out a squeal of excitement as he hugged his digimon.

Viximon went from being her small round form with tiny legs and long tail to her tall slender fox form.

"Congratulation on the digivolutions," Vikemon said.

"Oh it is so good to be back in this form," Renamon said happily stretching her arms in the air. It felt to her like she had been cooped up in a confined space for a long time.

"I think it'll be a good idea for all of you to get some well deserved sleep. We can start training when you are more awake."

"Vikemon, allow Renamon and I to train with you now. I'm ready and I'm sure Renamon is yearning to get back to fighting," Victoria said refusing the sleep.

"If that's what you want. Ikkakumon, can you show the others to the tent where they can get some rest."

"As you wish."

The gang, except for Victoria, Renamon, Kiva, Puppymon, Yukito and Penguinmon, followed Ikkakumon from the grounds. Vikemon didn't say anything about Kiva and Yukito staying there. If their choice was to stay and train, it was their choice.

"All right, are you six ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Victoria replied.

With that being said Vikemon led the three friends and their digimon to an open area where Ikkakumon and Zudomon stood in a circle watching. Victoria stared in wonder at the crowd as she prepared herself for training.

"Is there a reason why they are watching?" Yukito asked. "Do they want to see us screw up?"

"Not to see you screw up, more like to see what the digidestined have to offer," Vikemon responded.

"Oh this could be fun," sighed Puppymon and Kiva exasperated.

"So who are we going up against? No offence, but you can't be thinking of us going up against you," replied Renamon.

"Don't worry, you'll be up against Ikkakumon and Zudomon, I know that you'll be able to keep up," reassured Vikemon.

Without further delay, the training started; Yukito, Kiva and Victoria stayed to the far side giving their digimon enough space to move around.

Victoria had the same firey determination in her eyes like she had days ago when they were in the Dorumon and Dorugamon camp when they were up against Etemon. She didn't want to prove herself weak anymore. She knew deep in her heart that Renamon had the strength to take on any digimon Champion and Ultimate alike.

Kiva kept her face neutral as she watched her digimon brace himself for any attacks that the Ikkakumon had in store for them. She wasn't overly worried about having Puppymon digivolve just yet, she wanted to wait and see what he had in him first.

As for Yukito, he stood ready trying his hardest to keep a level head for his digimon as best as he could. He knew that there was no competing with the girls, their bond with their digimon was incredible. That was why he wanted to train with Vikemon, Ikkakumon and Zudomon, to build a bond with Penguinmon.

Renamon, Puppymon and Penguinmon all stood at the ready studying Ikkakumon with determined eyes. Just like their partners they held the same determination to succeed in battle. Unlike Yukito though, Penguinmon was determined to show his true powers, he could feel his partner's hesitation about all of this. Penguinmon knew Yukito wasn't weak, by far there was no way Yukito had a weak spot in him. But he questioned everything, making it difficult to believe that.

The digimon worked together combining their attacks to take on the six Ikkakumon who decided to take them on first. Their speed was incredible, the Ikkakumon could barely keep up.

Hours passed by and the digimon still continued to train, the others had finally woken up from their sleep and watched from the sidelines away from Yukito, Kiva and Victoria. Renamon, Puppymon and Penguinmon were now in their champion forms and taking on a group of Zudomon. Their teamwork was incredible, it surprised everyone to see them actually working as one.

"They are incredible," Tora commented impressed.

"Hours of training will do that. But I've always known that Kyubimon and Wolfmon had a great bond. This is a first time for Dolphmon though," Yumi replied studying their techniques.

She soon became very fascinated with their fighting skills, their movements were perfect, just like a dance.

"You children truly thought you could escape me?" the familiar Elvis voice called over what sounded like a loud speaker.

"I thought we had escaped him," groaned Tora and Yumi.

"Apparently not."

"Troops, assemble!" shouted Vikemon.

Kyubimon, Wolfmon and Dolphmon turned toward the sight of Etemon. This time, he actually was there personally, instead of by using a hologram.

"You are not getting away this time!"

"Who says we want to run away?" challenged Victoria stepping up.

"Troops, remind Etemon why he is not welcome in this region!" Vikemon roared.

"Harpoon torpedo!"

"Vulcan's hammer!"

Multiple missiles erupted into the sky and exploded in front of Etemon. A shockwave soon followed behind the missiles.

"Kyubimon, show him what you're made of!" yelled Victoria.

"I don't get it, why isn't he fighting back?" asked James seeing that Etemon never tried to block or dodge the attacks from the Ikkakumon and Zudomon.

"Dude, do you truly want to go through the same problem we had like the last time?" shot back Mark stunned by James' comment.

As Kyubimon ran full force toward Etemon, a smirk grew on his lips. This was all just a ploy, he was waiting for the right moment. Although he was loathing the cold weather, he didn't show it. Of course, being the king as he was, he knew how to show it. Around his neck was a black scarf that was normally seen on movie directors.

"Dark Network!"

"Kyubimon! Dodge it!" screamed Victoria as she watched in horror as Etemon sent out his attack.

Kyubimon kept her eyes on her target, moving to the side, barely missing the attack, allowing the energy to crash into the ground only feet from where the others stood.

"Guys, go in and help her!" commanded James.

"No! Let her do this on her own," Yumi replied quickly spinning around.

"What? Yumi are you blind? Kyubimon is going to need their help," James argued pointing toward the awaiting digimon.

"Listen to me. I just have this feeling that things will work out in her favour," Yumi replied calmly facing her friend.

Victoria stood with a determined look on her face as she watched her partner attack Etemon. Although nothing was affecting him, deep down Victoria knew that Kyubimon was bidding her time to unleash her true power.

"Dark network concert crash!" Etemon shouted.

"Kyubimon!"

Kyubimon stared in shock as the attack came at her unexpectedly. Jumping to the left, she narrowly missed attack, but got a bad shock coursing through her body. She let out a deafening scream of pain.

"Kyubimon! Please I know you can do this, don't give up on me now!" shouted Victoria grasping on to her tag and crest.

Victoria could feel all her emotions rushing through her as she watched uselessly from the sidelines. The warning that Robert gave her about keeping her emotions in check was not fully connecting with her. Etemon needed to pay for what he did to Kyubimon back at the Dorumon camp.

"Digivolve!" Victoria's tag, crest and digivice began to activate as a midnight blue light appeared from both. Darkness formed over the crest as well as her before the midnight blue light shone around her. Light from the digivice shut up like an arrow through the crest forming a black and purple colour cloud above Kyubimon as dark energy came out surrounding her.

"Kyubimon digivolve to…" there was something different about the digivolving; everyone stared in shock as to what was going on. She turned into a purple fox with nine tails, fireballs at the end of each of them as well as her feet, and a blue and white oriental band tied to her neck. She looked similar to her previous form only with a colour change. "Youkomon!"

"I don't like the looks of this," Yumi said stunned.

"This doesn't look good for any of us right now. That's Youkomon, the virus form of Kyubimon. She's a bewitching fox digimon. Her demon tail inferno attack dances in the dark. Dark magic dwells within this beast," analyzed Tentomon.

"I don't understand, why did she digivolve into this form?" asked Victoria.

"She gets her strength and power from you Victoria. She thrives off your energy. Remember what I said, you can not allow your emotions to get the better of you," Robert responded looking at Youkomon in alarm.

Youkomon stood glaring at Etemon with the utmost hatred. Albeit a virus digimon, she rather eliminate those who cause harm to others. In this form she truly had no loyalties to anyone.

Etemon grinned wickedly at the new evolved form of Kyubimon; this could be used to his advantage to get rid of the digidestined once and for all.

"Hey foxy, why not join me and eliminate those digi-brats?" Etemon called slyly.

Youkomon narrowed her eyes, her nine tails building up with more fire. Who did he truly think he was asking her to join him? "Do you truly think I'll sink so low to join you? Think again. Demon tail inferno!" Youkomon screamed as her nine tails erupted and shot them toward Etemon.

He let out a scream of pain as the fireballs hit him dead center but it still wasn't enough to hurt him.

Vikemon stepped forward taking his turn on attacking Etemon. "Arctic blizzard!"

Within seconds Etemon soon became a frozen digimon, including the surrounding Gazimon. The Zudomon joined in as well, sending their Vulcan's hammer towards the icy Etemon and Gazimon flying into the sky.

"That should remind him of why he should refrain from entering this land," Vikemon glowered.

"Youkomon, you did great, you took care of him! Come on, snap out of this!" called Victoria, a hint of fear in her voice. Youkomon had turned to face her, her eyes flashing menacingly on Victoria as she growled fiercely. At this moment in time, Victoria was just another obstacle in her way that needed to be taken care of.

"Demon tail inferno!" screamed Youkomon aiming her attacks at Victoria. Victoria herself was frozen to the spot in utter terror. Could her partner truly be attacking her?

"Victoria! Get out of there!" yelled Yumi horrified.

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

The three digimon stood protectively by Victoria. Gaogamon took a bit of fabric from Victoria's shirt into his mouth and took her to safety. The attack barely missed the two digimon who stared at Youkomon in a mixture of concern and determination.

"We need to distract her," Grizzlymon growled.

"Easier said than done," Sunflowmon sweat dropped. The negativity coming from Youkomon was increasing with each second.

"Victoria, are you all right?" Yumi asked when Gaogamon dropped her off.

"I can't believe my emotions truly did that to her."

"Don't you do that. Don't you dare go down the road of doubt and feeling sorry for yourself! We need you to focus!" Yumi commanded holding on to Victoria's shoulders slightly shaking her.

"Don't give up!" yelled Yumi.

Yumi and Victoria looked over at the battle to see Youkomon completely attacking them with no pity.

"She's out of control!"

Like something heard their silent call of help, another blinding light shone down upon the ground just behind the group. This time Robert's tag started to activate. A brown light shone brightly through the permafrost.

"Another crest!" cried Kisho.

Robert walked over to see a triangle inside a circle inside a heart. Placing his tag on the ground, the earth began to shake before the symbol shrunk and slipped easily into his tag. In place of the recent marking was a hole big enough to get down.

"Where does this lead to?" asked Tora.

"I don't know, and really don't care. We need to get out of here!" shouted Mark seeing that Youkomon was still on the rampage and the three digimon could not hold her back. Already the three reverted back to their rookie forms.

One by one the group and their digimon jumped into the freshly made hold leaving a stunned Victoria, a worried Yumi and a concerned Kiva and Puppymon behind.

"Tori, we need to leave. She's out of control!" Yumi said pulling on her friends arm.

"I'm not leaving her, I can't leave her!"

"Why is she seriously refusing to leave?" Puppymon asked.

'_She's too concerned with her digimon, that's what I call great friendship."_

"I don't want to leave her, she's my partner!"

"What are you four doing? We have to leave, everyone's waiting," Tentomon said flying back up the hole to see what the hold up was.

"I am not leaving her! She's my partner!" argued Victoria as she continued to fight against Yumi's grasp.

Youkomon was still attacking the group of Zudomon as if they were in-training digimon. Her powers were still strong and still surging through her. It was as if nothing could stop her. She was almost feeding off Victoria's negativity almost.

Victoria looked on with worry, she did this to her digimon, and she forced her into the next stage of evolution. All her doubts and blaming herself came flooding in causing her to truly open her eyes.

A light appeared from her crest, which shone brightly toward Youkomon. The light engulfed the wild fox digimon, containing her for the time being. No one knew what was going on, obviously the gang wasn't going to believe their story when they told them.

As the light continued to surround her, Youkomon began to dedigivolved back to her regular form. Victoria just stared in disbelief, did she seriously just do that? Renamon hovered in the air for a moment before slowly collapsing to the ground. Victoria's eyes widened as she realized what was fully going on. She ran with all her speed she had in her to get to Renamon's side.

"Hey, you're okay," Victoria said happily dropping to her knees and giving Renamon a hug.

"Well, at least now we know to wait until we're fully ready to digivolve and not rush in with pent up emotions," Renamon replied just as happily, but slightly weakened.

"Can you stand?"

"Give me a minute, I don't know if my legs want to move."

Yumi appeared on Renamon's other side as if being summoned and helped her up along with Victoria.

"Let's see where the other have disappeared."

"Agreed, they probably haven't gotten that far."

**A/N: So ends another long chapter, hope everyone enjoys it. I apologize if the ending seems rushed, I didn't want to drag it out any longer lol. So as everyone could guess I changed things around, I've given the digimon a chance of actually getting a shot at Etemon, rather than running away and being scared. And on top of that, I've changed how they got their crests, decided this seemed better. As for Kyubimon's digivolving into Youkomon, that was slide evolution. Just so there wasn't any confusion. So tell me what you think. Love reading your reviews and suggestions. Peace ^^**


	17. Forgotten memories: part 1

**A/N: Okay, here is the next instalment; I'm trying to do this faster, seeing as these are the fun chapters. So anyway, this chapter was inspired by San Child of the Wolves idea. There's going to be a couple of flashbacks in this chapter, as well as a certain 'guardian angel' returning for a bit. Lol, can you guess who it is? So anyway, thanks to San child of the wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for their comments.**

Chapter 17

Forgotten memories: Part 1

Groans and moans could be heard in a darken room. Nothing made sense to the ones who were in the room, everything was a blur. No one knew what was going on or who was in the room. Yumi was the first to open her eyes; her eyes were blurry from having them closed for so long. A throbbing sensation could be felt on one side of her head.

"Oh gods, what happened to us?" Yumi whispered looking around as best she could. Although she was surrounded in darkness, she could tell that the others weren't there.

"Where are we?" asked a male voice behind her. His voice sounded rasped.

"Yukito is that you?" Yumi asked her own voice strained. She could feel something binding her wrist, but it felt as if there was more than one tied to her. Her body was too weak to figure out who was behind her.

"Yeah, it's me. Any idea as to where we are?" Yukito asked as he struggled against the bonds.

"No clue. Do you have any recollection of what happened?" Yumi asked hoping to get some answers.

"Sorry, no. Where could the others be?" Yukito asked continuing to struggle thinking that something could happen.

"Whoever is moving, please stop. My arms feel sore as it is," said a tired female voice.

"Victoria?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh thank gods you're okay."

"I wish I could say the same for the rest of us. How did we get here?" Victoria asked the same question Yumi and Yukito asked before.

"We've asked that exact same question. I wish I could remember what happened."

Another body began to stir to the right of Yumi. "Hey, who is this?" she asked.

There was no response. Perhaps the person had fallen back to unconsciousness.

Kiva opened her eyes and began to look around at her surroundings. Thanks to the darkness she couldn't see anyone, or anything. A relief fell over her after hearing Yumi's voice.

'_Puppymon, where are you?'_ Kiva called out telepathically hoping that she could also hear her partner's voice as well.

There was nothing. No hint of noise. Kiva got worried that the same problem was arising from before.

'_Puppymon, this isn't funny. Answer me, please!'_ called out Kiva desperately.

There was still nothing. Kiva's heart began to race; she didn't want to deal with a block connection. He was the only one that could help her communicate with the others. Thinking quickly, Kiva tugged at the ropes hoping to get some sort of response.

"Kiva, if this is you, tug twice."

Kiva did just that. She could hear her friend sigh with relief.

"Okay, everyone is hear, or our group anyway."

"Renamon, where are you?" called out Victoria realizing that not everyone was there.

No response, everything remained silent for some time.

"Penguinmon, don't play games, you here?"

Again no response. Kiva realized that perhaps Puppymon wasn't in there at all.

"Okay, we're in a strange place and no digimon, what do we do?" Victoria groaned frustrated.

"Welcome to my life. We need to think, we need to remember what happened prior this," Yumi replied.

Kiva could remember bit and pieces of the last little while, but nothing major.

~Flashback~

The tunnel was dark, which was expected in this situation. The group kept close to one another afraid to separate. Renamon seemed to be the only one to have it easy seeing down the tunnel with her keen eye sight. Kiva stayed close to Puppymon, Victoria and Yumi near the front of the group.

"Okay, does anyone have the slightest clue as to where we are going?" asked Tora who was right behind Kiva, her right hand lightly touching the wall to feel her way safely through the tunnel.

"Nope!" chorused the group.

"Anyone have a light on them?" asked James.

"Nope!" chorused the group again.

"Nope…wait…maybe!" Yumi said shifting through her bag. The group stopped in their tracks as they listened to items being shoved around and the odd little annoyed groans of frustration. "I'm going to need a candle or something to keep the flame lit."

"Here, I might have something," offered Victoria.

After five minutes the group had light to shine the way. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to get the group to their destination. Now with the light the group could get a better look at their surrounding. There wasn't anything special about the place, only for the odd pictures and designs on the wall, nothing that the digimon recognized and anything that the humans could figure out.

"How long have we've been travelling for?" whined Tora after some time.

"Three hours," Puppymon answered.

"Feels longer," replied Bearmon.

"If we seriously stop complaining and just focus on the destination, it'll go by faster," Puppymon and Kiva replied darkly getting annoyed by the complaining.

No more was said after that. The group was getting more and more restless and were ready to get at each others throats. This was bound to happen sooner or later.

A brighter light appeared further ahead truly making the candle look more insignificant than it truly was.

"Do you think that's what I think it is?" Tora asked excitedly, her hopes rising.

"If that means fresh air, than yes," Lalamon responded her hope rising in the process.

"I'm going, I'll see you on the other side," Tora cried out happily as she ran toward the light.

The triplets, Renamon, Lalamon and Puppymon all let out a sigh as they watched her go. Kisho didn't waste any time before he ran after Tora, Shaomon right behind him.

"Kisho, don't go too far!" called out Mark ready to go after his kid brother.

"Let him go, Mark, you don't have to be by his side every second," Victoria said holding out her arm to stop him.

"He's my little brother. You don't understand what it's like to take care of a younger sibling," Mark replied getting all defendant.

"Yes I do Mark, I have a little cousin, about his age, and I give her all the space she needs."

Mark went to go argue, but just let out a frustrated groan as he went to walk with the rest of the group. Victoria let out a sigh as she watched Kisho's retreating back.

"He has so much in him for a little guy. Mark needs to understand that there are times to be protective and times when he needs to trust."

"He'll understand one of these days I'm sure."

As Tora said, the group left the tunnel at the end of a cave leading out to a forest. It was less dense then the last forest they were in. The sun was full within the clutter of branches above them.

"Oh sweet fresh air, and it's not that cold!" cheered Tora breathing in the air.

"Now that we have light and we're out of the tunnel, what would be the chances of getting a reading on our location?" Mark asked.

"Let's see here. I updated the digivices again so all have a map. Come on, you worked the last time for me," Robert said pushing the same button over and over again. "Okay, apparently it's not showing up."

"Here, you used mine the last time. Let's see what I can do," Yumi said taking out hers from her bag and pushing a couple of buttons. In no time, a map appeared on her screen with all the multicoloured dots in a clutter surrounded by trees. Playing with a couple of buttons the small map popped up like a hologram.

"Very futuristic!"

"Now, we're here! There should be a place up here that we can go to get some rest and information. My guess will be that we're looking at another couple hours of walking before getting there. So, while we still have light, I suggest we get a move on."

The group agreed and made their way down the path through the forest. It was very quiet and peaceful. The only problem they now faced was what their plan of action was going to be. Even with the maps on their digivice (or at least on Yumi's), it still wasn't helping in an unknown territory.

Yumi and her small group remained at the front as she scanned the map for any particular hint of a more known area. All it wanted to give her was the continuous surrounding forest.

"And as we continue our journey, we'll soon come up to more forest," Yumi said sounding almost like a tour guide.

"At least it's not a desert," commented James.

"A desert would be better though, you could see all around you," replied Yumi sighing.

"No matter how you want to look at this, there is no winning this endless battle. No one will be happy anywhere. I've heard the arguments. It's too hot; it's too cold. How much more of this endless desert?" Renamon said going through a good portion of the arguments that was popular within the group when they were in a certain area.

"She has a point. For now, we should suck it up and continue on our way. I'm sure there'll be something up a head," Yumi said.

"Thank you!" Kiva and Puppymon replied exasperatedly. This was the same thing they had mentioned before; it just took this long to get through their heads.

The gang continued their way through the forest, thankful it wasn't getting dense. Nothing out of the usual popped up scaring them half to death, which seemed to be a popular thing with some digimon; it would cause the triplets to start laughing at their misfortune.

With the triplets up ahead of the group they were able to follow the map; even if it wasn't giving them the greatest directions or help they seek. There was no signal on the digivice either indicating that there was a crest nearby.

"Do you think it was a mistake to come through the forest?" asked Penguinmon some time later.

"What other choice did we have? The tunnel came out to here. Or would you prefer it that we stuck to the permafrost region and froze?" asked Yumi keeping her cool.

"She does have a point. Not to give any bad news, but…uh…didn't we pass that tree like three ties already?" Yukito asked noticing a tree with twisted branches.

"No, there has to be multiple of those," Yumi said not taking notice. Her voice was suggesting something else all together.

Kiva could notice that her patience level was wearing thin; she was staring at the map on her digivice. Every now and then she would start shaking it out of frustration.

"Stupid freaking map!" yelled Yumi infuriated as she started hitting the side of the digivice.

"Technology and violence…not good bed fellows," Robert said looking at her, his eyebrow rose curiously.

"At least I've refrained from throwing it on the ground," Yumi replied. The map was starting to screw up on her, blinking in and out of focus, their dots were screwing up somehow or another. When it wanted to focus it would show an amber dot somewhere close by, but seconds later it would disappear.

"This stupid thing is getting on my nerves. Now it's showing that my digimon could be close by. But it doesn't stay for long. I think this stupid thing is getting defective.

"Yumi, you might want to take it easy. You are bound to break it if you keep it up," Victoria said ready to take the device from her grasp if she decided to throw it.

"I loath maps, I am starting to loath technology. Mind you, technology never really loved me in the process."

"If your digimon is close by, do you want to search for it?" asked Lalamon.

"Not if that means getting my hopes up for nothing. Come on, let's keep searching."

The group continued their way unsure where they were actually going. Puppymon, Renamon and Shaomon seemed to be keep upon a certain location up ahead of them. The triplets and Kisho were curious as to why the three digimon were determined to go that way.

As Kiva followed her digimon, something kept nagging at her in the back of her mind. She had a tendency to being able to hear things that others couldn't, as well as see things. It wasn't as if she had dog senses, more like super senses (brought upon her muteness). She narrowed her eyes as she peered over her shoulder. She occasionally did that every now and again, something she never did before. Passed a clutter of trees near a cliff about five miles away from where their current location was, she thought she could see something. From the corner of her eye she thought she could see a glimpse of a figure.

'_Am I losing it? Or is there actually someone there watching us?'_ Kiva replied concentrating on the spot.

'_Kiva, what's the matter?'_ Puppymon asked concerned that his partner seemed distracted by something.

'_I thought I saw something. It's probably nothing, just mind tricks probably,'_ Kiva answered shaking her head when the 'figure' disappeared.

"Agh! Stupid thing, I think the digivice wants to toy with my mind!" Yumi groaned as she stared at the digivice. The same multi dots littered the screen, the map that was once there was going after Yumi got rid of it out of frustration. Every now and again the amber dot would appear then disappeared. It wanted to play mind games with her.

Standing some distance away from the group on a high cliff, looking through the trees at the passing group almost protectively, was a wounded digimon. The one piece suit that seemed to be naturally weathered looked to be ripped and shredded. Its pointed hat with a skull on the base was tattered. The cape looked to be torn more than it once did before. He looked like he had gotten into a fight with an Ultimate digimon and lost.

Wizardmon finally reappeared after so long of an absence. Where his once jade eyes held a glimmer and shine of independency and strength; now were dull and sadden. He leaned on his staff with all the strength he could muster. He seemed to have escaped from wherever he was being held captive.

"I am glad that you have gotten passed Devimon. But I fear that all of you are in for more than you bargained for. If I didn't have to stay hidden, I would be by your side right now protecting you Yumi. I promised Lynxmon that I would watch over you, but things have not been going the way I planned them. I want you to be careful in this forest, there are things in here that you are not ready to deal with," Wizardmon rasped out. His voice was no longer the soft tone it use to be.

~Flashback~

Wizardmon took to the sky passing through the thick fog and entered the night world. He knew that it would be for the best. It killed him on the inside for leaving Yumi in her time of need. It was still too risky to reveal himself, especially since he knew that he was surely going to be hunted down. He risked his life when he left the castle in search for the girl he knew would be important to him.

He was risking everything at the point in time to be flying in skies, out in the open. He had been lucky enough while he was on the ground, but he knew that he would be safe as long as he didn't make himself known.

Scanning his surroundings, Wizardmon continued to make his way through the late night. He already had a plan formulating in his head; get back to the castle undetected and make it look like he had just went on a mission.

It was fool proof!

He flew past Infinity Mountain where Devimon as plotting his next scheme to rid the digidestined. Oh, how Wizardmon longed to be there to watch the digidestineds destroy him, that or take care of him himself.

"So, you truly thought you were going to escape Myotismon didn't you?" a taunting airy voice said behind Wizardmon.

His heart skipped a couple of beats as he turned around to come face to face with what appeared to be a grim reaper. He was wearing a red cloak over a grey cloth. The red hood was pulled over his head. An eyeball shaped crystal was draped around his neck. In his one hand was a scythe while the other was a chain and ball.

"Phantomon!" gasped Wizardmon. "Phantomon, a grim reaper digimon that uses his shadow scythe to tear through the souls of the digimon," Wizardmon analyzed.

"The master is not thrilled with your disappearance. He want you back. And I get the honour of bringing you back to the castle myself!" Phantomon hissed.

"Over my dead body Phantomon, you'll never take me back there!" Wizardmon growled forcing himself to push the fear out of him.

"Oh I think I can arrange that!" Phantomon chuckled flying toward Wizardmon his scythe raised ready to attack him.

Wizardmon saw this coming and raised his staff in defence. There was no way he was going to be able to get away from Phantomon. Wizardmon wasn't strong enough to take on an Ultimate at this point in time.

The two continued to attack each other with no ounce of backing down. Wizardmon blocked every move that Phantomon brought down upon him. He needed to keep up his focus, one wrong move *could* cost him his life.

"Why don't you give up Wizardmon, you won't be able to defeat me. You were never on to handle Ultimate digimon before, what makes you think you can start now?" Phantomon taunted swinging his scythe toward Wizardmon, who backed away before the gold blade could make contact.

"Not when I have something to live for!" yelled Wizardmon.

Wrong thing to say.

"So, do you truly think that you have a chance against me? Unlikely!" Turning the scythe around, Phantomon struck Wizardmon in the back of the head.

Hours later, Wizardmon came too staring wearily around at his surroundings. He was in the ballroom; it was all dusty, and dark. Wizardmon only ever truly need in there every now and then. Here was usually where Myotismon punished those who either defined him, or got on his nerves. Wizardmon was on both those lists.

"Oh bios no!" Wizardmon thought horrified when he stared at the vampire digimon coming toward him. "Myotismon, is a ruthless digimon, he takes no pity on those who crosses his path."

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to come back!"

"Not truly on my own free will," spat Wizardmon definitely.

"You truly think you are going to go unpunished for this? You insolent Mage," Myotismon snarled as he prepared his crimson lightning. Wizardmon had no time to react. A RedVegiemon and SkullMeramon were already at his side both grasping his arms as they turned his back to Myotismon. Wizardmon was not one to show fear toward Myotismon, even when he got his punishment, he tried his hardest to put on a brave face. "You'll regret your disobedience!"

The whip came down hard against Wizardmon's back. He let out a sharp exhale as he held back a scream. The pain was excruciating. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight. Myotismon continued whipping him, making it harder and harder to refrain from screaming. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead as another burning sensation coursed through his body.

"Let that be a lesson to you," Myotismon said. "If you ever, ever decide to run away again, there *will* be dire consequences. Do I make myself clear?!"

"Y-yes my lord!" Wizardmon gasped out. Oh how he loathed saying that awful words.

~End flashback~

Wizardmon loathed that viral digimon. Even after his punishment from him there were more to come. Myotismon's bats were allowed to get a piece of him. Wizardmon could still feel the fangs biting at him.

"I am sorry Yumi, but if it were not for being caught, I would have stayed by your side all the way through. This forest holds more danger than it appears to be. Think wisely on your decisions. Soon, we'll be together. If I can get away from the viral digimon grasp!" Wizardmon vowed.

He wanted so badly to be by her side. But knew that the consequences to both their lives would be grave. How many times would it take for Wizardmon to escape before he got deleted?

Through the trees he could see a group of digimon appear heading in the same direction as the digidestined.

Wizardmon wasted no time before he took off through the forest wanting to investigate what was happening.

The group continued their way through the forest, just taking in the sights. Nothing on the map was giving them any indication of any whereabouts of a place to crash in.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Renamon asked stopping the group several minutes later. They fell silent as all of them strained their ears to hear what Renamon heard.

"Renamon, I don't hear anything. Are you sure you heard something?" asked Victoria after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Renamon, maybe your imaging the noise. This forest does tend to mess with peoples minds," Robert replied.

"No, I hear it too. Just tiny drops, but its definitely there," Puppymon replied his nose in the air smelling the air.

"I think they must have lost it," Mark whispered.

"They might have something though. Digimon have keen senses. Maybe they're stronger than our own," commented Yukito.

Renamon and Puppymon both took off through the forest leaving the digidestined and their digimon behind.

"Um…guys, Renamon and Puppymon left!" called out Tora noticing the absence of the fox and wolf digimon. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva seemed to have taken off shortly after their digimon.

"I thought we were going to inform each other when we were going to disappear," James said running after the girls.

The forest sped past the two digimon as they made their way toward the sound of water. The two were determined to find the source of the noise.

"I believe Yumi, Victoria and Kiva decided to finally join us, don't you think?" asked Puppymon sensing some presences behind them.

"I believe so too. I had no doubt in my mind that they wouldn't stay behind for too long."

Kiva, Victoria and Yumi kept their pace up knowing that they weren't that far behind the group at all.

"Do you think that they truly might've heard something?" Yumi asked.

"I have no doubt in my mind. Renamon never bluffs when she hears something," answered Victoria.

Kiva tapped her friends' shoulders indicating that she had something to tell them. She slowed down her pace and quickly made some hand gestures. (Translation: Puppymon would never run off unless it was for the utmost importance. He must have something on his mind.)

"Okay, where do you think they went?" Yumi asked looking around.

"You think you can lose us that quickly?" Renamon called jumping through the bushes scaring the three out of their wits. Kiva was the only one to not be as scared as the other two.

"That…was not funny."

"You should have seen your faces," laughed Renamon. "Come on, over here."

Renamon led the girls to a large spring within a clutter of trees. A large stone digimon sat in the middle of the spring itself, water coming from its mouth.

"This is known as the enchanted spring, all of your memories will be brought back to you. I suggest you be careful about taking a glimpse into it. Not all memories are good to remember," Renamon advised.

"There you are! Guys, I found them!" called James.

"You guys are slow," Victoria said.

"Didn't we agree that you weren't going to run off anymore?" Mark called.

"I didn't remember ever agreeing to that," Yumi replied.

"So what was the big emergency you all had to run away for?" asked Tora.

"The source of the noise," Renamon indicated toward the spring.

Stones surrounded the outer ridge of the spring; all of them had a different symbol painted on them. None of the digimon had a clue as to what the markings were. Robert was even baffled by the symbols, he had taken out his laptop to see if he could decipher them, but his computer came up blank.

"Okay, now I'm baffled. A spring that recalls your memories, and strange symbols. What is the actual meaning behind all of this?" Robert asked.

"Don't worry so much about it, you don't always have to analyze everything," Yukito soothed.

"Typical," Victoria commented rolling her eyes watching Robert pick up random stones and scanning them. "Yumi, can you believe this? Yumi?" Victoria turned her head to where Yumi once stood to find her missing. She spun in a circle thinking that Yumi just stepped back for a moment.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" Kiva and Puppymon asked.

"You see Yumi?"

"Nope, not at all. How could she have disappeared?"

Yumi felt her body being pulled over toward the spring. Something seemed to be calling her, but it made no sense to her. Her eyes became blank and distant, her only focus as the spring itself. She fought the urge to call out to her friends who were sure to be worried about her.

Victoria whipped her head to the side just in time to see Yumi stop of all a sudden in front of the spring. A light fog began to cascade over her as if pulling her in more to its alternate world. As Victoria went to step forward, the fog soon engulfed her as well, a soft, airy voice called out to her making her forget her worries and trust in the voice.

Kiva noticed her friends' sudden change in moods; they seem to have become more distant. At first she didn't realize that something was wrong until she herself was wrapped up in the fog. She could feel her entire body begin to relax and disappear from the world. She wanted to call out to Puppymon, but something held her back.

Tora moved closer to the spring to get a closer look, just like Yumi, her body became almost limp. Her body was being summoned closer to the spring. The fog engulfed her easily. A soft voice whispered in her ear beckoning her closer.

Mark began to notice the weirdness with the girls, as well as the ominous fog that rolled in. He didn't know what to make of it. Concerned he went over to Tora to try and snap her out of her trance. What he didn't realize was he soon became part of the trance as well.

"Okay, this is getting freaky here," Kisho said stepping back watching the others become hypnotized. He was holding on to Shaomon hoping that he could make him feel better. Robert, James and Yukito were another ones not to be taken in, but that wasn't going to last long.

The fog moved in closer and closer to the four remaining humans, the digimon were trying their hardest to get a hold of their partners.

"This is no time to be lollygagging here. We need to leave!" Gaomon said.

"Tora, snap out of it!" Lalamon said floating around Tora's head hoping that her voice could do something to snap her out of it.

"Victoria! Now's not the time! You know I don't like getting scared like this!" shouted Renamon.

'_Kiva, can you hear me? Come on, you do this for me, please hear my voice and snap out of it!'_ Puppymon called out through his mind.

"Robert, come on, why are you all of a sudden acting like this?" asked Tentomon floating around Robert's head seeing that he was under the spell.

Nothing in the digimon's words could snap the kids out of their trances. All nine children stood in front of the spring looking into the water. Something soon came over the children as memories came over them.

Mark blinked his eyes as her looked around at his surroundings. He couldn't believe where he was. He was in his old apartment when he was merely six years old. He colour hear shouting from the other room, curious he went to investigate the noise. As he made his way through the room, he realized that he was in his old living room. Everything looked exactly the way we remembered. The chestnut coffee table in front of the leather brown couch. The dark oak bookshelf and TV stand was opposite the couch.

His mom was big on the literature; Mark's love was the movies. All his favourites were on the second shelf, all in reaching ability. Kisho was addicted to his younger style of shows and movies, all of them were on the first shelf so he could reach them.

The arguing continued from the kitchen, the occasional thud sounded against the wall; Mark knew that his father had a tendency to become aggressive to get his point across, his mother was not known to show fear or upset.

"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!" cried a young boy.

Mark turned his head to where the small voice came from. Sitting behind one of the chairs was a younger version of himself. This was the only true time Mark ever showed his true emotions. His knees were drawn to his chest with his hands covering his ears.

He could still recall to this day everything that happened; this was the day that his parents split up. He hated it so much. All the yelling, all the hitting, smashing. He was terrified when his parents fought.

Tearing his eyes away from his small self, he peered into the kitchen where a six foot tall man with sandy colour hair and sky blue eyes glared down at a young woman. His features were hard and tight. He looked older than what his true age truly was.

Standing in front of him was a young woman of five foot nine; she had dirty blond hair similar to her son's hair. Her amber eyes normally holding warmth and love were stern and full of anger. Her features were softer than her husbands, but it was still set in fine lines of anger.

Mark watched horrified as his father continued to yell at his wife. There were times when his father would raise his hand ready to strike her, but would rethink it.

He couldn't stand it anymore, turning around he re-entered the living room where his younger self continued to rock back and forth still repeating 'make it stop' over and over again. There was nothing her could do, he doubted that he could comfort himself; he doubted that the younger version could even see him.

Mark always blamed himself for his father leaving. For some unknown reason, he always thought that he had done something to upset him. No one, not even his brother knew about his self doubting with his father.

A slamming of the door was heard indicating his father leaving. The young Mark ran from the living room to his own room to be away from his mom.

Times after that just got worse and worse.

The memory faded leaving Mark standing in the darkness blaming himself for everything.

Kisho slowly opened his eyes as he looked around at his surroundings. The sun was shinning brightly in the sky. Laughter could be heard all around him. Turning around Kisho could see his mom, a younger version of Mark and a younger version of himself sitting in the sand playing. He must have been only five in this memory. He truly didn't remember much about this, but somehow he was bound to recall everything.

A warm ocean breeze blew at him surrounding him in a comforting feeling. This was just a year after their father left them and the boys made their decision to stay with their mother. The tow were happier now. It was a picture perfect moment. Kisho was so happy to see this again.

He saw his five year old self playing in the sand, burying his brother. He was buried up to his chest so far. Their mother was laughing and having a great time. She was holding on to her camera taking pictures of her boys.

He was very happy that he had such a great memory. This was the first that him, his brother and mother were ever happy.

Victoria sat on the windowsill of the third floor room, staring longingly at the outside world. Little children were running around playing outside in the leaves. The tree tops were all beautiful colours; it looked so serene. She never realized that she could ever be happy with all the bouncing around she did.

Although she was still young and didn't quite understand truly what was going on. Victoria would never forget the day when her mother had given her up at the age of three. Since that day, Victoria had been in an orphanage for only a year before being in foster homes. Each lasting for eight months at a time. She hated being moved from one place to another. The only good thing was, she as allowed to remain in school and near her close friend.

As Victoria continued to look outside, she could see a miniature version of herself with natural black chest length hair fluttering in the wind. She was with a younger version of Yumi, her hair naturally black just like hers, none of the random colours interfered with the natural look. The two girls, for once, were running around kicking a soccer ball down the field along with the other children.

This was something she thought she never see again. Obviously a lot of things were blocked from her mind. The other thing she couldn't believe was how happy she actually looked at that of an age.

"There had to be a reason my mind wanted to remember this. What did Renamon say? This is an enchanted spring; memories will be brought back to you? If this is true, what reason is it for this particular memory?" wondered Victoria aloud. "Am I supposed to remember how happy I once was?"

The questions continued to revolve around in her head as she continued to stare at her little self. Even at that young age, Victoria looked like one to take action. Her and Yumi seemed to be in constant sync with each other.

Curious Victoria left her post on the windowsill and headed out of the classroom to the field outside.

Outside the little Victoria had easily jumped into the air kicking the ball right into the net with ease. She was highly proud of herself for proving that she was able to do certain things.

"Victoria, it's time to go home sweetie!" called a woman's voice.

Both little Victoria and older Victoria turned around to see a young woman with dark brown shoulder length wavy hair. She had a curvy, small figure. She appeared to be in her late twenties, possibly twenty-seven at the most. Beside her stood a smiling man with light brown hair that had a scruffy side to it. He had a strong build to him too.

"Akima! Yamoto!" cried out the young Victoria. Her face was beaming with happiness when she saw them. She had been with them for over seven month and loved being near them.

"Mom! Dad!" breathed Victoria. Now she understood her memory, this was the first foster family that truly wanted to love her like their own.

In all her years, this was the first time she ever seemed happy, and it only got better, for the most part.

James couldn't believe his eyes; he was standing in the crowded airport along with his mom and dad. There was only a few times when the family was actually together. His younger self stood in between his parents holding their hands, their suitcases were all sitting in front of each other. He must have been at least seven years old, but he seemed to be older.

"So champ, are you excited about the trip?" his dad asked. He had spiky brown hair with hazel eyes. He was tall, and had a bit of a thin appearance to him. He wasn't overly built like some, but that didn't bother him.

"You know it dad! I can't believe that we actually get to go to Hawaii as a family. We haven't been on a trip together in so long," replied the young version of James.

"Well, your father and I decided to book some time off to take us all on a family vacation together," his mother said. She had red wavy hair that reached her chest, her jade green eyes sparkling in happiness.

"Shall we get going?" asked his father.

Young James nodded his head excitedly as he went to pick up his suitcase. The older James could recall his father always leaving to travel. There were times when James was allowed to go with his father, always exploring the world. His parents were surprisingly still together, but it was hard on their relationship.

The image vanished and reappeared almost a day later when the family was in Honolulu. James and his father were in the water surfing, while his mother was tanning on the sand. James of course was getting taught how to surf by his father, who was use to be a surfer in his younger days.

"The good old days," sighed James happily watching himself keep crashing into the water.

Tora stood on the sidelines of a large stage. Currently a young girl was on stage performing. In the back was a young girl with reddish brown shoulder length hair held back in a ponytail. She appeared to be nervous and was fidgety all the while she waited for it to be her turn.

A young woman with straight reddish brown hair wearing a black dress suit with a white shirt underneath knelt next to the girl trying to give her encouragement.

"You are going to be fine hunny. There is nothing to be afraid of," assured her mother.

"I don't think I can do it. There are butterflies in my belly, I can't remember the steps," the young Tora complained making up excuses.

"Tora, listen to me. If you put your mind to it, I am sure you'll be able to do this. You just have to be confident," reassured her father who was wearing a navy blue suit, his black hair combed back in a pristine way.

Tora recalled this day, she was four years old and the little ones were performing in front of a large audience for their ballet recital. The fear got to her a lot, she hated the fact that all the hard work she do would go out the window. She learned so much over the years to block the fears and channel on one thing.

"Mommy, please don't make me do this. I don't want to go on the stage."

"…wasn't she adorable ladies and gentlemen? Please give a round of applause to Tora Nakamura!"

A loud sound of clapping could be heard from the audience. The older Tora turned her attention to the crowd, while her younger self stood horrified on the sidelines.

"Tora, come on hunny, you can do this!" her mother urged, giving her a good luck hug.

The four year old Tora took a deep breath made her way on to the stage. She wore pink tights along with a pink tutu.

The eleven year old Tora stared in awe at the sight of herself; she was so cute back then and remained cute.

As the music started up, little Tora started to gracefully dance on the stage, completely forgetting the crowd around her.

Yukito sat on the train staring out the window longingly at the passing scenery. He was facing his younger self of about five. He was currently on his way back to his father's place from his grandparents. He was with his nanny that his father hired when he was too busy.

It had been three years since his mother's passing in a dreaded accident. Yukito was too young to remember, only that his father became upset and very distant with his son.

His father decided that he should visit his grandparents every so often, so he could have some time to himself. Mainly to be free to go to the bars, drink and forget his worries.

Yukito didn't mind visiting his grandparents, but of course as the years went by he was bound to figure out his father's drinking habits. He would always hear his grandparents at night discussing his father. It was hard for him to hear and to accept, but he had to deal with it.

"I hope daddy is going to be okay," sighed little Yukito staring out the window.

Yukito could still feel the hurt that neglect left upon him. It didn't help either when Yukito started school; his father wanted him to always get the grades. Study as much as possible. Yukito, himself, always locked himself in his room to be away from his father as much as possible.

Robert was standing in front of a large crowd his heart racing with anticipation. He was one of the smartest students in his school, but he had a hard time facing crowds. Sweat formed on his forehead as the spotlight shone upon him. All eyes were on him waiting for something to happen.

"Robert, your word is xylophagus," said the judge.

"Xylophagus," Robert repeated slowly. He took a deep breath and gave a long look out to the crowd to find at least one familiar face. His parents were apologetic about not being able to be there. Both had to work and were not going to make it.

Robert took another deep breath. "Xylophagus…x-y-l-o…p-h-a-g-u-s," Robert easily spelt the last three letters with no problem. He could remember studying all the words with his dad every night in preparation for this spelling bee.

"That is correct!"

The audience erupted in applause; Robert felt a smile grow on his face. He left the stage to the back as another person went on the stage.

In the back was the older Robert smiling at his eight year old self. He as very impressed by the confidence he grew from that day on. All the excitement slowly began to disappear from the eight year old Robert. The older Robert looked around to see that he had no family support like some of the other children had.

"Maybe they were right, maybe they really couldn't make it," sighed Robert wanting to find a secluded area to sit.

"Robert!" a voice called through the crowd of people.

Robert looked around only seeing children gathered around; some were quizzing one another, others were looking through books. Others were with their parents getting support. Robert tried his hardest to figure out where the voice was coming from.

A woman with brown hair came running up to him wearing blue jeans and a white blouse. She was close to five foot six, just like his thirteen year old self, she was in her early thirties. Behind her was a tall man of six feet with blue spiky hair, he was wearing brown pants and a white shirt with a tie around his neck.

"Mom, dad, what are you doing here?" asked young Robert.

"We wanted to congratulate you sweetie, we are very proud of you," his mother said.

"Yes son, you are a very brilliant boy," his father agreed.

"I thought you weren't going to make it."

"We were able to get out early."

"I am happy you were able to make it."

Yumi stood in her old living room in Highton View Terrace; she looked around at her surroundings. Was this for real? Was she really back at her old apartment? What was the main reason for her to be here? What was the real reason for this memory?

"Hitomi, are you for real? This is freaking insane! We have a four year old daughter! Is this truly the path you want to take?" yelled a male voice.

Yumi's heart stopped in her chest, she thought that she would never hear his voice again. It was years since she heard and seen him. He had black short hair with silver eyes. He was strongly built, with a soft round face. Yumi looked much like her dad and had much of his attributes, charisma and speed. His name was Alexandru Dimitru he was raised Romanian and moved to Japan in his teens.

"Alex, you have no right to be dictating me about running my life. If I wish to go out and have a great night with the girls, then I will," shouted Hitomi. She had light brown shoulder length hair with honey coloured eyes.

"Hitomi, you have been out every bloody day this week. I'm getting sick and tired of it! I don't even think you have seen your daughter at all!"

This was a constant thing in the house, always a lose-lose situation. At the age of four, Yumi wasn't stupid; she knew that her parents were unhappy with each other. They were both young when they got married, not a month went by when Hitomi got pregnant with Yumi.

Yumi's four year old self hid behind a corner listening to the fight. She hated her parents' arguments. But she wasn't stupid either; she knew her father wanted to get away from Hitomi while he still had the sanity of a typical twenty-four year old. His main reasons for wanting to leave the house was to get away from Hitomi's self-absorbency and constant need to control things.

It still pained Yumi till this day when her father walked out of her life. She thought that he didn't love her anymore. Boy was she wrong. She was daddy's little angel, he was very close to his daughter, there was such a tight bond between them.

"You are not my father, you are my husband. You can't control my life!" yelled Hitomi.

"I'm controlling you?! You are the one that is controlling everything in this entire house!" Alex shot back.

"That is bull!"

"Fine! You want to go out and get wasted, be my guest!"

The door slammed behind Hitomi leaving one very irate Alexandru. He turned around to see a terrified little girl. He strolled over to Yumi and picked her up in his arms.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that Yumi. Mommy just doesn't want to settle down yet."

"Are you leaving?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

"Please don't leave. I don't want you to leave."

"You'll never fully lose me."

Alex took his daughter to her room and sat on her bed. He proceeded over to her dresser and picked up a small black case.

"I was going to wait for your birthday, but now is the best time to give you this," Alex said handing his daughter the small box.

Yumi opened the lid to see a silver wolf pendant lying against red fabric. "Daddy, it's gorgeous."

"I want you to remember darling; this wolf holds a great power, this will keep you safe from harm. It's also a reminder of your heritage."

Yumi stared at the howling wolf in wonder. She couldn't believe that she actually got to have something as precious as this.

"Always remember, daddy loves you."

The memory disappeared from view, Alex left Hitomi and Yumi the following day, Yumi thought that she did something for him to leave. Over the years with the help of her mother's manipulation, Yumi thought that her father forgot about her. She hadn't got one letter from him.

It wasn't until she was ten when she found out that he sent over a hundred letters, birthday and Christmas cards and presents. Her mother had hid them on her. Yumi would never forgive her mother for lying to her over the years and abusing her.

The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, it was a perfect spring day. Three people were taking a stroll in the quiet streets. Kiva stood on the other side of the street standing amongst the trees. This seemed oddly familiar to her.

On the other side of the street was a ten year old Kiva with chest length lavender hair that fluttered in the breeze. She stood in between a tall man of about 6 feet with short lavender hair and golden eyes, the same matching eyes and hair as her. On the other side was a short woman of five toot five with mid back dirty blond hair and brown eyes.

It appeared to be a picture perfect family in a way. They never showed their family problems out in public.

When the family got to the sidewalk, the ten year old Kiva and her father made their way across the crosswalk leaving her mother to tie her shoelace that had come undone.

No cars seemed to be out on the street, which was a little odd, but didn't seem to bother the two.

Kiva watched form her spot in horror. Her heart pounding in her chest. Why this memory?

When the two were in the middle of the crosswalk, a truck came speeding down the road. The driver made no attempt to stop; he didn't seem to notice the father and daughter walking ahead of him. Kiva now realized that he was on his cell phone, from what she could see on the sidelines.

Her father saw the truck and roughly grabbed hold of Kiva's hand throwing her out of the way of the speeding truck. Kiva rolled on the ground heading toward a curb. The truck hit her father sending him skidding a short ways across the road, but the truck didn't stop, it just kept going. It had ran over her father in the process, killing him instantly. It was a hit and run.

The older Kiva could feel her breath caught in her throat as she held back the tears that threatened to escape.

Ten year old Kiva was sitting on the ground stunned. Her eyes were wide with fear; she had witnessed his death. She couldn't take her eyes off her father's body. Not even her mother's hysterical screams could bring her out of her trance from staring at her father in mute silence. She couldn't scream any way, but something inside of her wanted to come out.

She shakily climbed to her feet and numbly ran over to her father and threw herself at his dead body clinging to his shirt. Tears falling freely now from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She silently sobbed into his shirt silently pleading for him to come back.

That brought the thirteen year old Kiva out of her trance. She shot up from her spot screaming, "Daddy!" tears were rolling down her cheeks, her heart pounding wildly as she recalled everything that happened. It was the first time that she ever used her voice.

The digimon still stood away from the spring, the fog still thick blocking their partners from view. No one knew what was going on, not even Puppymon could sense the terror his partner was facing.

Crashing noises sounded in the forest coming toward them. Renamon picked up on the noise as she turned her head toward the trees on the right.

"Renamon, what's wrong?" asked Lalamon concerned.

"We have visitors," she replied in a hush voice.

"Where?"

A dozen figures jumped out of the trees catching the eight digimon off guard. Before them stood a large like robotic cat, it had a skull of a cat, the body structure resembling that of an ape. It was all mechanical with sharp claws and weaponry surrounding his body.

"Now there's a digimon I would not like to meet in a dark alley. That is Beastmon, he is a robotic digimon that uses his sharp claws to rip through his victims like paper," analyzed Bearmon.

Next to him looked to be a mechanical like dragon, just like Beastmon, it was made up of sharp weaponry. The wings were more of an elastic look like bats, and were large like a dragons. The beak seemed to be made of four sharp knives.

"Even just looking at this digimon sends shivers down my spine. Mechanicaldragomon is a dangerous dragon. His knife beak will rip you to shreds," analyzed Tentomon.

The last one was what appeared to be like a snake and spider mix. It had a creepy doll like head, the left eye glowing red. The six arms were like needles connected together.

"If one wants to have a nightmare about being sewed up and engulf in a tiny enclose space, this is the digimon for you. Her name is Seamstressmon, using her thread stun, she can stun her victims into submission before sewing them up within herself," explained Shaomon.

"Excellent, SkullBaluchimon will be pleased to have you in his grasp," growled Beastmon.

"Do you truly think we'll be easily persuaded to go back to him?" snapped Renamon.

"You think we were expecting you to come quietly? You are sadly mistaken. We know you'll fight, trust me, we already got you figured out," hissed Seamstressmon.

The digidestined digimon prepared themselves for attack against the evil digimon before them. Silently, the digimon came up with a plan of attack hoping that they could all be in sync. As the eight digimon went up against the baddies, Beastmon was the first to prove just how weak they truly were. His strength was too great than all of theirs combined. Only Renamon and Puppymon were able to escape any further harm from him. Mechanicaldragomon unfortunately was a little too quick for them. Its sharp claws dragging across their backs as he swooped down upon them.

They couldn't defend themselves against these digimon; they were too quick and too strong. The Mechanicaldragomon rested above Renamon and Puppymon's lifeless bodies triumphantly.

"Seamstressmon, would you care to do the honours of taking the children?" Beastmon offered.

"I thought you would never ask."

Seamstressmon went through the thick fog to retrieve the unconscious digidestined. The four Seamstressmon used their thread to tie them up and pull them out back to the open forest.

~End flashback~

"Okay, we need to come up with a plan to get out of here!" Yumi groaned as she tried to move her body away from those surrounding her.

"Yumi, I think we've been through this before, there is no way we are getting out by struggling," Victoria replied her voice strained.

"We can't just give up here; we need a plan to get out of here. Because I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't fell like meeting our captor."

The other three nodded their hears in agreement as the four settled down to come up with a plan of action. This was not going to be as simple as they thought it was going to be. The ropes that bonded them together were tightly tied around them that any more fidgeting would make it feel like the ropes got tighter.

"Did anyone else hear that?" asked Yukito.

"What?" asked the girls.

"That!" Yukito answered as thunderous footsteps sounded outside their room.

"Oh gods," breathed Victoria and Yumi.

To be continued….

**A/N: All right, so I decided to break this into two chapters, sorry that the ending seemed rushed, it's all I could do before I rambled on and on. I'm also sorry about the flashbacks, they weren't as good as I thought they were going to be, mainly the length. I'm aware that Kisho's was the shortest, I couldn't think of anything else for his memory. I hope the rest was okay in the long run. Conclusion coming up soon. As for the three digimon, they are inspired by the characters from the movie 9. Beastmon-Cat beast, Mechanicaldragomon- the winged beast, and Seamstressmon- Seamstress. Can't wait to read your comments. Tell me where I could have improved and what needs to be brought in. Conclusion coming soon.**


	18. Forgotten memories: part 2

**A/N: As promised, here is chapter 18. Hope it's just as good. A big thank you goes to San child of the wolves, White Hunter, and ProtogirlT for their comments and for San child of the wolves for her idea for the chapter.**

**Chapter 18**

**Forgotten memories part 2**

Tora let out a groan as she opened her blurry eyes. She could feel something tight against her wrists, almost cutting off her circulation. The last thing she could remember was coming out of the trance at the spring and her body becoming lifeless. Hints of other things came back to her as well, but they were blurry and didn't seem to be clear to her.

"Where am I?" she groaned rolling her head.

"That's a very good question," replied a tired sounding voice.

"Who is this?" asked Tora curiously as she tried to turn her head around.

"Kisho."

"Do you know if the others are here as well?" Tora asked hoping for some sort of hint as to who else might be in the dark room.

"I don't think so. I don't even thing the digimon are in here either."

"Oh that's just great. We need Lalamon's attack to get us free from here."

"I just hope that Shaomon is okay."

"I'm sure he is. He's probably just as worried as you," Tora reassured him.

"Where's the light switch?" Kisho asked out of the blue.

"Not sure if there is one. But we need to try and get out of here."

The two went silent as they were trying to come up with an escape idea. It didn't help either that their digimon weren't there to give them a hand.

In another room groans could be heard coming from three guys. It was impossible to figure out where they were. The room was pitch black, no other sounds could be heard and to make matters worse it was uncertain if the digimon were there.

"What happened?" groaned James as he struggled to shake his head.

"Who else is here?" asked Mark who was just coming too.

"Do you suppose it's just the two of us?" asked James.

"No, I can feel someone else's hands tied to mine and they aren't just yours," Mark replied dryly. He was already getting frustrated with the unknown. James knew better than to overly annoy him further.

"Am I seriously not that important here?" Robert asked his voice strained.

"Robert!" cried out James.

"Please, not in my ear," Robert moaned.

"Where's Kisho?" Mark demanded getting anxious all of a sudden.

"Maybe he's with another group. I am sure he is safe Mark," Robert replied.

"What's the plan?"

"I'd say we try to get up at the same time and hopefully head toward the door," Robert suggested.

"Using teamwork that could work."

"Okay, on the count of three, lean up against each other and force yourselves to a standing position," instructed Robert.

"Got it," Mark and James agreed.

"One…two…three."

Each boy pushed their backs tight against each others as they forced themselves up to a standing position. It was hard work as they struggled to their feet. It wasn't the first time the boys had to do something like this. During their gym class the one year their teachers decided as a test of working together and get along, the class was paired up either in groups of two, three or four and had to work together to get to their feet move around.

"It just shows how much we actually get through the challenge," James said.

"Now where?" asked Mark staring into the darkness.

"I think either which way we look at it we're going to be aiming toward a wall. But let's try this way," Robert said leaning toward the left side.

Taking their time the three blindly made their way down the room hoping for good news. Their feet were uneasy the entire way through, the boys were thinking that they were going to hit something or run into something.

Back in the first room, the triplets and Yukito were staring up at a skeleton style digimon that looked to be once a sabre-tooth tiger. Bone wings perturbed from its back.

"Meet SkullBaluchimon, he's an undead digimon that preys of his victims," introduced Seamstressmon.

"Holy…shit!" Yumi gaped staring wide-eyed at SkullBaluchimon. Compared to the other digimon they have faced, he looked like the scariest. A demonic sounding growl escaped him, sounding like it came from the depths of hell.

"So, these are the digidestined that defeated Devimon and have Etemon fuming," SkullBaluchimon chuckled. His voice sounded low with a thunderous boom to it.

"I suppose you're another to be working for that loser," Victoria snapped feeling confident.

"Oh on the contrary. I work for no one; Etemon only wishes he had me on his team."

"Where are the others?" demanded Yumi getting furious.

"They're around. I'm sure you'll be seeing them pretty soon," taunted SkullBaluchimon.

"You better not have harmed them," Yukito snapped, his eyes burning. Although he had his back to him, he still kept his cool. Yukito was worried about his partner and boyfriend all at the same time.

"What are you going to do about it? I seem to have recalled that you are tied up and in no shape in rescuing anyone."

The digimon arose from their sleep in a separate room from the humans. The eight looked around confused trying their hardest to figure out exactly what happened. The last thing that any of them could recall was facing up against Seamstressmon, Beastmon and Mechanicaldragomon. After that however was a blur.

"Anyone else awake?" groaned Penguinmon.

"Yes. Where are we?" groaned Renamon rubbing her head.

They felt closed in for some unknown reason. So far, Penguinmon and Renamon were the only ones awake and partially conscious.

"I'd say a small enclosed space," replied Penguinmon.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious smartass. Okay, I think I'm leaning on something."

"Yeah, that would be me," Puppymon muffled trying to claw his way from under Renamon.

Renamon could feel him struggling underneath her and finally giving up knowing she was too big for him to lift. Renamon forced herself up a little to allow Puppymon to escape underneath her. There soon came groans and complaints from the other digimon who were near Renamon.

"Ugh, stop moving," moaned Lalamon.

"Something's pinning me," groaned Bearmon.

"Oh bios it's so confining in here. Get me out of here!" yelped Shaomon scratching the walls of their confinement.

"Bearmon you're nails are digging into me," Gaomon said fighting his way from Bearmon.

"Gaomon, you're squishing me," Tentomon groaned trying to push him off.

"This reminds me of the bloody toy box," Penguinmon said grimly.

"Well, this is what karma feels like," Renamon said resting her body back down as she rolled her eyes.

"Get me out, get me out!"

"Shaomon, CALM DOWN!" yelled the digimon.

Tora and Kisho were still sitting on the ground trying to figure out a way to escape their own confinement.

"Blast this darkness, I can't see anything," scoffed Tora.

"Too bad we didn't have anything to use," Kisho sighed.

"Wait a minute, I think I might!" Tora exclaimed as a light bulb went off. "I hope they didn't take my bag." Tora began to search around her with her feet as best she could.

"Are you positive that it'd be here?" Kisho asked apprehensively.

"It has to be. Come on, something, anything," Tora said exasperatedly stretching her leg as far as she could. She could feel Kisho struggling behind her as she continued to lean forward. "Sorry Kisho, I promise it won't be much longer."

Tora relaxed her tension on her stretching to give Kisho some ease. Tora split her legs out hoping that something could come through.

"Hold on, I think I have something," Kisho said as he moved his leg around trying to help Tora.

"Great, can you reach it?" Tora asked sitting right back so Kisho could reach.

"I think so," Kisho groaned as he forced himself even further forward. He stomped his foot on the ground when he kept feeling the strap close to him. "Almost…got…come on."

"You can do it Kisho."

With one last effort, Kisho could feel his foot connect on the strap of the bag. He let out a small laugh as he dragged it towards himself.

"Good work Kisho. If you can, try to swing it towards me," Tora instructed.

"Here it comes," Kisho said as he used both his legs to slide the bag close to Tora. Tora knew she couldn't stretch herself that far without hurting Kisho.

As she went to move her leg in an attempt to reach the bag that way, she could feel the fabric brush up against her hand giving her an idea that she could easily reach it that way.

"Kisho, new plan, I need to try and reach into the bag with our hands, so be prepared for any sudden pulling."

Moving her arms to the side along with Kisho's, Tora grabbed hold of the bag and brought it closer to the back.

"Now, it has to be in here," Tora muttered.

"Tell me what you're looking for and I could probably help you."

"There should be a little container that holds a nail filer. It can cut through the ropes with ease."

The two continued to scrounge through the bag to come across it soon. Who was to say what was going to appear in the next little while.

Robert, James and Mark seemed to be having a very interesting time moving all at the same time down the darken room. Their footsteps were still hesitant with each step they made.

"Mark…Mark! Slow your pace, we all can't speed walk here. There is no need to rush. We have no clue as the where we are, and where we are going," Robert said pulling back a little on the binds.

"Sorry. I guess I didn't realize that I was speeding. James, how are you doing man?"

"Great, arms are tired, but can't complain. Have we even moved from our previous spot? Because it sure doesn't feel like we did," James answered.

"Yeah, I would just love to know where exactly we're going. We're going blindly in an unknown location," Mark replied as he twisted his head in the darken room, hoping for some clue.

"Hopefully a wall will be some place close by," Robert responded shuffling along.

Their feet shuffled along the ground worried that something was going to pop up and cause them to trip. This was the last thing they needed, to be flat on their faces.

After some time, the boys made contact with a stone wall. Robert was the one to have the face plant experience.

"Okay, I have found the wall. Apparently, no exist and no sign of a door so far," replied Robert stepping back feeling slightly light headed.

"Right side?" suggested Mark.

"Yep," agreed Robert and James.

Mark took lead of the group heading the opposite way. None of them knew just how big the room truly was, or where exactly a door was, if there were any. It was frustrating that they still needed to scan the whole room to find a single door.

In the first room, Yumi struggled against the bonds as she urged herself free. Victoria, Kiva and Yukito were doing the same thing, seeing that there was no other options were granted to them. Blood still dripped down her cheek where SkullBaluchimon struck her. She still felt proud about standing up to him.

"Chikushou," Yumi hissed as she felt the stinging sensation again from her wound. "I can't believe he actually did that."

"How are you holding up?" asked Victoria concerned about Yumi.

"As best as I possibly can. I can't wait to destroy him!" seethed Yumi furiously as she repeatedly rocked forward.

~Flashback~

Yumi could feel the warm breath of SkullBaluchimon upon her; he was standing right above her growling menacingly. He was contemplating on whether or not to kill them now or to wait a little longer and torture them a little. He could sense a lot of torment and fear rise within Yumi, this was something he could to his advantage.

"Hahaha, do you truly think that you can simply hide your fears and worries from me? They radiate off you like your own aura."

"Do you truly believe I'll simply allow you to waltz into my mind and read every solitary thing there is to know about me?" Yumi snapped glaring at SkullBaluchimon anger rising inside of her.

"Insolent girl!" barked SkullBaluchimon smacking her across the face. Yumi let out a gasp as she felt the claws drag across her face leaving a scar on her left cheek. Blood dripped down her fresh wound on to her lap. She didn't shed a tear, she didn't want to show any more weakness than she was about to show.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Victoria getting defensive.

'_You baka!'_ yelled Kiva mentally narrowing her eyes as she stared up at SkullBaluchimon.

"Is that the best you got?" challenged Yumi turning her back to face their captor.

"Well, well, well, let's see what we can find in her shall we?" he taunted leering down at her.

A young Yumi of seven strolled the grounds of the school yard with her friend Victoria. School was let out and the two were heading home, the two were in silence as they passed by many students awaiting their taunts. Ever since Yumi started to get verbally abused by her mom, she had been acting out at school, always hanging with the bad crowd.

"Hey freaks, you truly think you have some nerve acting like don't you?" called a boy behind them. He was referring to the little stunt that Yumi and a few other kids had pulled causing a couple of kids to go home early.

"What's it matter to you, huh? I didn't seem to think you had a problem with it. Why don't you turn around and bugger off!" yelled Yumi her eyes blazing as her grey eyes slowly started to turn amber.

"Maybe we don't want your kind around here!"

With that the group behind Yumi and Victoria started to throw stones at them. Yumi knocked Victoria to the ground to protect her. She'd prefer to take the hit then her friend.

"What is your problem? What have we done to you?"

The group didn't say anything except continue to throw whatever they had around them. Yumi could feel the anger rise up in her, she ran toward the group ignoring the pelting of stones. As soon as she was in front of them, she lunged at the boy who was speaking to her and Victoria; she was determined to hit every part she could find.

Her fist made contact with the leader of the group's nose, eye and mouth. Blood gushed from his nose.

Those around them screamed in fear, worried with what could happen. Victoria stood up impressed by her friend's rebelliousness.

Later on, Yumi sat in the kitchen holding an icepack to her eye as she stared up at her mom who stood with her arms crossed before her looking furious.

"Yumi, what possessed you to even pull this stunt?" her mom demanded.

"I was trying to protect Victoria, they were the ones who started this shit, and they threw stones at us. What else was I suppose to do?" demanded Yumi lowering the icepack and lightly touching her face where the boy's fist came in contact.

"First of all, we don't use that language here, second of all that's not a good excuse young lady. You know the better thing to do was to go to a teacher."

"Oh whatever mother, you have no idea what I have been through and you never will," shouted Yumi standing up and storming off to her room.

~End memory~

"Hmm, you have a strong, black and hard heart, do you not like to allow people into you life nor is there more to it that your hiding from me?"

"Like hell I'd share that with the likes of you!"

"Do you truly need another reminder of what I can do?"

~Memory~

Yumi was faced up against her mom's boyfriend one night. The two were in a middle of a yelling fest. Her mom had gone to the store to pick some stuff up for dinner, leaving the two alone.

Yumi was already fashioning a black eye and markings on her arms and cheeks. Hitomi's boyfriend was not afraid to raise his hand to her at any rate.

"You think you are so wise. Why don't you just go into your room like a good little girl and not come out until your mother returns. You know, before you get any more hurt then you already are."

"You don't scare me, you ticalos!" shouted Yumi.

"What did you call me you little brat? Do you truly need another remind of what I can do?"

"You don't have it in you."

He raised his hand and slapped her hard against her cheek causing her to stumble to the ground. Her right cheek was throbbing with pain, tears formed in her eyes as she stared up to her mother's boyfriend.

"Don't let me tell you again!"

~End memory~

Yumi held her tongue, she wanted to lash out again, but didn't feel like having another scar on her.

"That's what I thought. Now then, what else are you hiding? Hmm, oh this looks mighty interesting. Something you're not telling your friends?"

Yumi sat there frozen in fear, he couldn't have. He couldn't have located her deep dark secret she fought years from keeping from her friends. She shook her head frantically trying to block the memory.

"Are you afraid of what your friends might think?"

"Shut up! Taci din gura! Tojikomeru!" Yumi yelled in English, Romania and Japanese, it all meant the same thing.

"Seems I have hit a nerve haven't I?"

"Leave her alone!" shouted Victoria.

~End Flashback~

"Okay, I think if I can loosen up these knots, we should be able to free ourselves," Yukito said snapping Yumi out of her daydream.

"Can you reach them?" Victoria asked, her fingers scraping at any rope she could reach.

Tora and Kisho finally found the little kit at the very bottom of her bag hidden underneath all of her stuff. Tora tried her hardest to open the lid that was snapped shut. It wasn't hard to say the least, but very tricky and annoying.

"What's the plan after this?" Kisho asked.

"Run as fast as we possibly can. Locate the others and get the heck out of here," Tora replied trying desperately to open the kit.

"Sounds like a good plan. What's plan B if plan A doesn't work?"

"Hide!"

"Okay, we'll need to rethink this, but I think it's still good."

"Why won't you open?" shrieked Tora in frustration.

"Want me to try?"

"No, it's just be…ing tem…per…mental!" Tora said through clenched teeth forcing the lid open.

"And the verdict is?"

"Pray that the nail file doesn't break," Tora said throwing the container to the side and began to saw through the ropes.

Obviously as expected, they were thick and heavy. Tora was determined for this to work. She refused to let something like this get in her way. She needed to protect Kisho as best as she could.

Time ticked by as Tora continued to hack away at the ropes frustrated. One strand had fallen away, leaving so many more to go. Kisho had finally gone quiet and went completely still. Tora knew that he was trying to keep patient as best he could.

"Hang in there Kisho, I promise we'll be free soon. I hope," Tora vowed. She was starting to lose confidence in herself for suggesting this idea. She wasn't good at making the greatest decisions, but apparently her friends seemed to think that her ideas were amazing.

"Ah, last one. At last, we're almost out of here. Kisho. Kisho? Kisho! Come one, we're getting out of here, what you do you think? You even awake back there?" Tora asked hitting his back slightly to get his attention. "Poor little guy. Okay, I can do this, I can do this."

As soon as the last little bit of ropes fell away, Tora turned around and freed Kisho from the ropes around his wrist and picked him up with ease in her arms. She stood in her spot for some time staring at the darkness, how would she possibly know where the exit was?

Slowly and cautiously, Tora made her way in one direction praying for a miracle that she was going to be free of the weird place. Kisho never stirred in her arms, he was completely out like a light.

"Sweet little angel," Tora whispered.

A swishing sound like snake came from outside of the room causing Tora to stop dead in her tracks. What was that thing?

"Okay, maybe plan B could come in handy right now, but how do I know where a hiding spot is?"

A door at the far and opened up bringing with it a little bit of light. From the quick glance she got of the room, there seemed to be no hiding spot whatsoever making things ten times worse.

"We might be in darkness my dear, but I can still see you crystal clear," hissed the new being.

"Who are you?" Tora called out.

"My name is Seamstressmon, and your worse nightmare."

Tora gulped as she backed further away. She was trapped and had no clue as to where she was going. "Lalamon, I wish you were here."

The digimon continued to struggled inside the box, Shaomon was still scratching frantically to be let out. He was hyperventilating causing the other digimon to almost slug him to knock it off.

"Shaomon, you need to calm down and let me think here. I have not the slightest clue as to how to get out of here. So unless you want me to personally knock you out, please stop!" Renamon stopped as she stared at the black lid.

"There has to be some sort of way to escape this prison, right?" asked Lalamon desperately resting on Renamon's stomach.

"Oh, trust me, there is. I just need to find one that's all."

Renamon went quiet again concentrating on everything around her, she needed to focus on the task at hand, and that was to get out of the box. It didn't seem like there was going to be an easy way of escaping. There was no telling what was on the outside of the box. Something heavy could be on top of them. A digimon could be outside ready for them to escape so it could easily attack them.

As she concentrated she could sense the other digimon's feelings. It felt as if all their hope had gone out the door when they were placed in here, and she didn't blame them for having their doubts, she had hers too.

'_Renamon, don't get discouraged now, we all believe in you. I have faith in you,'_ Puppymon mentally talked to her giving her all the courage she needed.

'_Thanks Puppymon, but I'm not sure if I can actually do this,'_ Renamon said grimly feeling self-doubt build up inside her.

'_Whoa, where did this Renamon come from? You're the one that gives everyone here a reason to believe, don't doubt now,'_ Puppymon said trying his hardest to perk her up.

'_All right, if you have faith in me, I know I can do this,'_ Renamon sighed. "Listen to me, I want all of you to pin yourself to the wall and stay there. I don't want to hurt any of you, or at least not any more than I have to," instructed Renamon opening her eyes as an idea formulated in her mind.

The other digimon complied as Renamon tucked her knees close to her chest, her hands resting on the side of the walls putting pressure on them. She needed to do this all in one shot and didn't want any problems.

With her feet planted on the lid, Renamon took a few deep breaths before kicking with all her might on the lid breaking the lock and forcing it open. The other digimon leapt out happily to be freed from their confinement and rid of the enclosed space of the box and Renamon.

Renamon stretched her arms out as she forced herself to get out of the box. Her entire body was tense and sore, no doubt the same as the others.

"Renamon, you are awesome," Bearmon cheered.

"You the fox," Gaomon added.

"I knew you could do it," Puppymon replied with a grin.

"Thank you. But we can't celebrate just yet, we still need to find our partners and get out of here."

"Not before you go through me," screeched Mechanicaldragomon.

"Not you again," the digimon groaned exasperatedly.

"Did you honestly think you were escaping that quickly?"

The eight digimon got into a fighting stance glaring at the mechanical dragon-like digimon. Renamon, Bearmon and Puppymon had their teeth bared ready to attack at a moments notice. How did this digimon appear just as they were about to find their humans? Was this some how planned?

**A/N: Hey, so here is chapter 18, I'm being a little bugger and splitting it into three parts. I was actually planning on having this out on Monday, one year of writing. So anyway, chapter 19 shouldn't be too far along, don't worry this will be the conclusion.**


	19. The escape: part 3

**A/N: Hey everyone, so here is the next instalment. Thank you to San Child of the wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for your reviews, greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter 19**

**The escape**

In the other room, the boys were now scanning the entire length of each wall in hopes of an escape. Instead of hesitant footsteps, they easily rested against the wall and took their time feeling their way down the long wall. James was in the lead taking charge of the group.

"Do you think that we'll find an exit sometime soon?" asked Robert who was walking backwards.

"I hope so, for our sake. I want to get out of here and get to the others," James responded with a sigh.

"It better be soon. I'm worried about Kisho."

"Dude, we know your worried about, you have to be patient."

James let out a sigh as he moved to the next wall with no luck with the last one. This was the third wall and still no luck. How could this be possible? There should be a door somewhere right? The boys were getting exhausted form the constant guessing game.

On the opposite side of the room a sound of whirling could be heard as a door slid opened. The boys turned their attention toward the other side to see Beastmon standing there in the door way growling.

"Holy shit!" the boys gaped.

"The digidestined will be destroyed!" growled Beastmon advanced on the boys. Candles lit up around the walls somewhat lighting up the room. Boxes were stacked around the room, chains hung from the ceiling with hooks on the ends, and other weapons lying around. Somehow the boys were lucky enough to bypass the obstacles.

"Um…we need a plan," James gulped.

"Running comes to mind," Mark replied.

"If we weren't tied together that wouldn't be a problem," Robert responded.

"Look, we don't seem to have a lot of options right now, so I'm taking Mark up on his offer."

The boys continued to stare horror struck at Beastmon who continued to thump through the room making everything shake in its wake. Knowing that their escape was very limited there was only one option that came to mind. Run straight forward, bypass Beastmon and prey that nothing happened to them.

"Crap, I don't think this is going to work. The likely chance of us getting to the other side unharmed is very slim."

"Robert, don't think so negatively. We just need to stay focus," James said his eyes remaining on Beastmon.

"So, when are we moving?"

"Now!" yelled James pushing forward.

If walking wasn't tricky enough, running became more of a challenge as the three made their way through the obstacle course. James was in the lead still with Robert and Mark on either side of him running awkwardly.

Beastmon saw this and started to run toward them licking his lips. Prey running toward him was better than prey giving chase away. His eyes were narrowed into slits as he continued to come after them.

"James, any other ideas? He's coming toward up, fast and he looks hungry," Mark said fearfully seeing Beastmon charge toward them.

"Trust me!"

"James!" shouted Robert.

Beastmon was nearly on top of them at this point and Robert and Mark were getting fearful for their safety. The two were close to stopping and turning the other way, but James wasn't having it. He glared at Beastmon challenging him to try his worst.

"James. This isn't funny!"

"Dude, think of our lives!"

James didn't say anything, only staring at Beastmon. A smile spread on his face when he saw Beastmon ready to leap into the air his claw was ready to strike them.

Mark and Robert stared wide-eyed at the mid borne Beastmon with his sharp nails glittering in the light.

"Holy shit!" screamed Robert and Mark.

"Split!" James demanded.

"What?" the two asked in shock.

"Just do it!"

As the boys turned their separate ways, Beastmon dived down cutting the ropes that bonded the boys together. All three of them fell forward as the ground shuttered from the collision of Beastmon.

"Run!" screamed James heading toward the door.

The other two didn't need to be told twice. Scrambling to their feet the boys took off after James praying that the door remained opened long enough.

Behind them, Beastmon growled angrily turning to face them. How dare the digidestined get past him? Letting out a deafening roar he took chase after the boys who were nearing the door.

Their breaths were laboured from pushing their legs to the highest extent. Robert started to calculate a plan in his head as the outer lights came to view.

"Here's my thought. After we get through the door, we need to find the switch to shut the door and keep him trapped in here while we find the others."

"What happens if he's right behind us?" James asked looking behind him.

"Keep running until something happens," Robert replied.

"We are not going to make it!" screamed Mark feeling the ground shake.

"Dive!" yelled James diving for the open door.

Mark and Robert followed suit, their bodies crashing against the wall hard. James was already against the wall by the door his hand resting an inch from the button. Seeing that his friends were safe, he slammed on the large red button shutting the door on Beastmon who slammed into the steel door. He hit some other buttons causing a short circuit and hoping for a miracle.

"Now where?" asked Mark looking down both passageways.

"Left!" Robert said.

"Right!" James said at the same time.

"Which is it?" Mark asked confused at the other two boys looked at each other.

"Right!" both replied hearing some new noises down the hall.

"Right sounds good."

Tora backed away from Seamstressmon with Kisho in her arms. She was doomed and no one was going to save her. Her heart raced with fear as the serpent digimon continued to slither toward her.

"You have no where else to go. Why don't you just surrender so we can finish this quickly," hissed Seamstressmon.

"I'm not giving up that easily," Tora called out with as much strength as she could muster. She needed to mask her terror.

"Big words from such an insignificant child."

"I dare you to take your best shot!"

"Haha, very well. Thread stun!"

Silver thread shot out of her spool-like body aiming toward Tora. Thinking fast, she dived to the side landing on her back. The thread hit the wall by accident making Seamstressmon furious.

"You little brat!" she shrieked coming toward her with a new found reason to by angry.

"Uh oh," Tora breathed scrambling to her feet not once letting got of Kisho. The door seemed so far away from her, there was no way she could make it on time.

"Give it up child," Seamstressmon called out tauntingly coming after her as fast as she could.

"Not giving up. Not giving up."

"Thread stun!"

Tora shrieked as she ducked in time to miss the thread. She needed to get Kisho to safety while keeping herself alive.

It almost became a game with them. Seamstressmon would send out her attack, Tora ducking then continued to run. But this was becoming old fast.

"Lalamon! I need your help!"

Her voice echoed throughout the room making Seamstressmon laugh. This was futile. Sending out another round of thread, Seamstressmon snagged Tora by the ankles and started to pull her toward herself. Kisho rolled on the ground not even waking up in the process.

Tora soon began to panic as she scratched the ground hoping for something to grab hold of. Her heart raced as she felt herself get closer and closer to her doom.

Seamstressmon laughed at her victory of being able to take down at least one digidestined. She continued to pull in the squirming Tora not giving her any option of escape.

"HELP!" screamed Tora desperately.

"No one can hear you; no one is going to save you. So save your breath."

The metal door slid open bringing with it the lights from the passageways as a figure stepped forward. Something glowing in his hands.

"Thunderball!"

The attack came out of no where hitting Seamstress in the stomach. She had loosened her grip on Tora's rope. Tora took the advantage to escape. She frantically tore at the thread forcing it to get off.

While Seamstressmon was focusing on her own problem, Tora ran back over to Kisho and hopefully the whereabouts of the digimon that protected.

"Is someone else in here?" Tora called through the darkness.

"Take the child and run," replied Wizardmon somewhere in the shadows.

"Please, I want to see the one who saved me."

"No time, go!"

Tora picked up Kisho and headed toward the door that reopened up automatically before she actually got to it.

"Whoever you are, thank you."

"No, how dare you let her escape."

The door closed shut leaving the stranger and Seamstressmon alone. Tora looked at the door concerned, what happens if Seamstressmon hurt the other digimon? She still beat herself up for not properly thanking the stranger.

As she ran down the hallway, she heard the familiar sound of her digivice going off again. She had thought that her captors had taken it when they tied her up. Placing Kisho on the ground, Tora dug out her digivice from her pocket to see four dots blinking wildly down the hall. They were the familiar black, midnight blue, purple and brown dots. A sigh of relief escaped her as she headed toward their location. As much as she didn't get along with them, she rather see someone than no one.

Yukito was still struggling with the ropes that bounded the four. His frustration was rising with each second. The girls were probably making it worse by struggling and pulling away. They would give anything to be free.

"This is hopeless. They had to of lied it in multiple knots," groaned Victoria finally ceasing her constant pulling.

"Stop pulling on the ropes. That is one of the reasons why it's becoming frustrating," Yukito said through clenched teeth.

"All right, all right."

As soon as the girls went still, the sound of the door opening causing Yumi, Victoria and Kiva to tense up fearing that SkullBaluchimon was returning to finish off the job. They held their breaths waiting for their impendent doom. Yukito felt their sudden tensing and stopped working on the ropes as his breath slowed down listening.

"Am I ever glad to see you," came Tora's voice from the door way. Light flooded into the room.

"Tora!" screamed the girls relived.

Tora ran over to them, placing Kisho on the ground and began to fiddle with the knots.

"How did you escape?" asked Yumi cocking her head to look at her better.

"And where are the others?" Victoria asked.

"First, a nail file comes in handy in these situations. Second, no clue. My digivice just started to go off when I got out of the room and only your four dots appeared."

"Yes, freedom!" cried Yukito five minutes later rubbing his wrists.

"We need to find the others, and quickly!" declared Victoria standing up.

"But we have no clue as to where they are," Tora replied.

"That is what these are for," Yumi said taking out her digivice. Like on cue, a blinking light appeared on the screen leading down the passageway to where Tora was only minutes ago. "My digimon, he's close!"

"Yumi, we have other concerns right now. I promise we'll go after him when everyone else is safe," Yukito said grasping her shoulders.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Victoria said urging everyone out of the room.

Yumi went over to Kisho, picking him up in her arms; she followed the others out of the room and headed down the passageway opposite of where Tora came from. Three coloured dots started to flash on the screen giving hope to the small group.

The digimon were all attacking Mechanicaldragomon with all the power they could muster. Nothing seemed to be doing anything to the machine dragon.

"Diamond storm!"

"Puppy bite!"

"Double backhand!"

The three aimed straight for Mechanicaldragomon, but he simply swatted them away like flies.

Renamon landed on her feet with ease as Gaomon slid across the floor stopping right next to her. Puppymon skidded to a halt with his nails digging into the ground.

"We need to attack all at once, I'm sure that's the only way we can defeat him."

"Well we better do it fast, he's coming right for us!" screamed Bearmon seeing Mechanicaldragomon swooping toward them knocking them to the ground.

"Attack at once!" shouted Renamon jumping into the air preparing the diamond storm.

"Puppy bite!"

"Lala screw!"

"Bear claw!"

"Diamond storm!"

"Super shocker!"

"Tsumo!"

"Ice prism!"

"Double backhand!"

The digimon sent out their attacks toward Mechanicaldragomon. The attacks actually had some affect on the bigger digimon.

"We need to keep this up for as long as we can!"

"I say we tie him up, it'll keep him from attacking us as well as making it easier to escape," suggested Tentomon.

"Good idea. Question, how?"

"There's some rope over here."

The digimon moved quickly to gather the rope preparing to obtain Mechanicaldragomon. Of course, he was not going to allow that to happen. He swooped toward them, beak open ready to attack.

Renamon pushed the other digimon out of the way as she jumped into the air, the rope in her hand. Quickly as she could, she easily began to tie up Mechanicaldragomon bringing in his wings to the side making it difficult to fly.

"Awesome job Renamon!" cried the other digimon as Mechanicaldragomon came in for a crash landing along with Renamon who was still standing on his back.

"Now that he's out of the way, let's get out of here."

The digimon left the room and ran into the hallway heading blindly in a direction they hoped would lead them to the children.

Footsteps sounded down each hallway making it impossible to figure out if it were friend or foe. Each group were blindly making their way down one hallway after the other. There were still no sign of SkullBaluchimon anywhere, he was either going to pounce soon or let them run around until they were exhausted enough to eliminate easily.

"GUYS RUN!" screamed James passing the girls at the intersection of hallways.

"What's going on?" Victoria asked trying to figure out the situation.

"BEASTMON!" shouted Mark following after James.

Confused, the girls and Yukito looked down the hall to see a large robotic cat-like digimon charging down the hall.

"Holy fuck!"

"RUN!"

The eight took off down the hall following the guys. Yukito shifted her hold on Kisho so she could run faster. Roaring sounded behind them causing their skin to crawl. Adrenaline rush surged through their veins at each turn. Beastmon stayed on their heels the entire time, not giving them the chance to escape.

Panic soon began to rise within them after realizing that their escape was impossible. Each turn they made led them to more of a blockade.

"There's no way out! How can there be no way out?" Tora panicked, stopping dead in her tracks after an hour of running.

Yumi narrowed her eyes as she mentally slapped Tora in the face. If it weren't for Kisho in her arms, she would physically smack her.

"Tora, just calm down. We'll find away out," Yumi said shifting Kisho's weight around.

"I can take him from you if you want," Mark offered.

"I've got him. First thing is first. Digimon. Where are they? And how fast can we locate them!"

"She's right. Where are they?" Victoria asked looking around.

"I haven't been able to locate them on the digivice," Robert mentioned looking at his digivice.

"But unfortunately Beastmon is still on our trail. Unless he can smash through walls, we should be fine," Yukito said.

"Yukito!" snapped Yumi and Victoria.

"What?" "If you just jinxed us, you are a dead man."

"He's like four passages away."

"Doesn't mean anything. Look we need to look for the digimon."

"They could be anywhere."

"Kiva, can you feel Puppymon's presence?"

Kiva closed her eyes concentrating only on Puppymon. Only one thing was on her mind: hear Puppymon's voice. Her dark world vanished around her sending her into a spacey background with only Kiva standing there. Stars glittered around her, planets and asteroids passed by her.

'_Puppymon, give me some sort of hint that you can hear me,'_ Kiva called out.

Purple, blue and red coloured clouds swirled around her as he call was sent out to Puppymon. This was the first time she had even been to this part before. Normally it was a snowy field, an ancient arena or a cemetery. But it normally differed with each call out.

'_Kiva, where are you?'_

'_Thank gods I found you. I'm not even sure.'_

'_Wherever you are, stay put!'_

'_Love to, but Beastmon is after us.'_

'_Don't worry about him, let us deal with him.'_

"Kiva, we need to go!" shouted Yumi cutting through the connection.

Sounds of crashing could be heard through the wall. Yumi gave Yukito a sharp glare in an I told you so way. Yukito shrugged his shoulders in a sorry stance.

"Get ready to run!" yelled Victoria.

"But we don't even know where he's going to come from," Tora said.

Answering their question, Beastmon appeared a few feet form them shaking off the debris. "That answer your question?"

"Diamond storm!"

The familiar shards came crashing down on Beastmon. A relived look spread through all of the digidestined.

"Are we ever glad to see you," Victoria said grinning at Renamon.

"Your not the only ones," Renamon replied hugging her partner.

"As much as we want to have a warm reunion, we need to get out of here and now!" Puppymon demanded.

Beastmon slowly started to stand up shaking off the rubble, the kids turned around silently agreeing to run for their lives. Heading down the long hallway, James' tag started to light up indicating a crest nearby.

"Do you think this'll lead us to an escape?"

"Better."

Turning down another hall, a weird looking symbol appeared on the wall. Within the circle was a line running down the middle of the circle. Two other lines stretched out from the top like the start of the peace sign. At the bottom were what appeared to be stretched out ovals. It was almost in the shape of a lotus flower. Green lights appeared on the wall illuminating everyone. This was definitely a sign on their behalf.

"James, this has to be yours."

James took out his tag placing it on the wall. But as he waited for it to shrink the same demonic growl could be heard at the end of the passageway causing everyone's skin to crawl.

"Oh gods, no!" breathed Yumi.

"Escaping are you?" SkullBaluchimon hissed.

"JAMES!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" James said.

SkullBaluchimon made his was down the hall slowly in a threatening way. Tora began to hop up and down with her hands on her head in a worried gesture. Yumi stared at the wall watching the symbol take its own time to shrink. What was it waiting for?

"We're going to die," panicked Tora.

"Come on you stupid thing."

Once SkullBaluchimon was right on top of them ready to strike, the crest fitted nicely into the tag and a wall appearing before them allowing for escape. Everyone high tailed it out of there avoiding a bloody disaster.

"Perfect timing. Now what are we going to do? We can't run, he'll follow us," Yumi said looking at the night area.

"Fight?" suggested James.

"That thing is ultimate, our digimon can only go to champion form."

"We already know that Renamon can take out an ultimate, I don't see why he is any different," Robert said.

"She can also go to her ultimate form," Tora said.

"Technically, she only did a slide evolution of her champion form," Victoria defended.

"Hello, standing right here. And I rather no go back to that form again. There's no need to risk everyone's lives right now."

"Um…I don't care what we do, but we better do it soon. We have company," Yumi said staring at SkullBaluchimon.

"Everyone digivolve!"

Within seconds all seven digimon changed into their champion forms standing protectively in front of the children as they glared at SkullBaluchimon furiously.

"Hahaha, do you truly think a bunch of champion digimon can truly take me on?" laughed SkullBaluchimon.

"You have not seen what we are capable of," growled Grizzlymon.

"Get him guys," Mark shouted.

The digimon immediately went on the attack wanting to get rid of SkullBaluchimon quickly as possible.

SkullBaluchimon came charging toward them his red eyes burning brightly with hatred.

"Grave bone!"

"Look out!" yelled Sunflowmon seeing his huge feet come crashing down on them.

The digimon turned around, picked up their partners and headed to a safe location. SkullBaluchimon stared up at the retreating digimon furiously. The digimon climbed the tree to get to a high branch.

"You'll be safe here. Just don't move," Kyubimon instructed allowing Yumi, Kisho and Victoria to slide off her back on a branch on the large tree along with the others.

"Oh yeah, like we want to be moving here," Yumi said sarcastically lying Kisho down on the branch, his head on her lap.

The digimon returned back to the fight confident enough now to take on SkullBaluchimon with no more fear of the children getting hurt.

"Deadly fear!" "Dragon wheel!"

"Pulse blast!"

"Wolf blast!"

SkullBaluchimon dodged the attacks laughing at their pathetic attempts. He charged toward them preparing to strike.

"You pathetic digimon, do you honestly believe that you can seriously challenge me?" roared SkullBaluchimon.

"If that seriously means we can get rid of the likes of you, then yes," Sunflowmon called out.

"Kyubimon, I have a plan," Gaogamon called.

Kyubimon saw that Gaogamon was talking with Wolfmon already. She knew that something was going through his head. Turning her head sharply, Kyubimon called over to Grizzlymon. "Grizzlymon, keep SkullBaluchimon occupied."

"You've got it!" replied Grizzlymon. "Kabuterimon, Sunflowmon, Dolphmon, you three are with me!"

Kyubimon ran over to Gaogamon and Wolfmon eager to hear the plan while the other digimon went on the attack.

"Here's what I'm thinking, we'll each attack from the side the others are already keeping him distracted as it is. They just need to keep it up. On my signal we'll attack at the same time. Kyubimon, I have faith in you that you'll be able to take him on. Don't worry you won't be alone," Gaogamon added quickly seeing the look of shock spread across Kyubimon's face.

"So whose going where? We need a game plan."

"Wolfmon, you'll be attacking from the right, I'll be attacking from the left, Kyubimon you'll be attacking from behind. We need to use our full strength on him, I just hope it'll be effective enough. We could definitely us Dobermon, he's another one that can take on SkullBaluchimon along with Kyubimon," Gaogamon said.

Up in the tree, Yumi looked down at the still unconscious Kisho lying on her lap. Shaomon was lying on his partner's side resting comfortably.

"I still can't believe he actually fell asleep," Yumi said amused.

"Tora, what happened to cause that?" Mark asked from the branch above theirs.

"It's called him being on the go all day, all this action has drained him. Even Shaomon is exhausted," Tora snapped.

"This is no time for fighting. We need to keep our strength up as well as our hope that the digimon can defeat SkullBaluchimon," Victoria snapped, not taking her eyes off the digimon.

"Victoria, what's got you so preoccupied all of a sudden?" James asked concerned.

"I'm concerned about Kyubimon, I just hope that she can use my strength."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," reassured Yumi looking down at the digimon with her hand resting on Kisho's shoulder.

Kisho opened his eyes a little scanning the ground below, he could feel Yumi's hand on his shoulder. He dare not move, he had a plan going through his head with Shaomon who was also faking his sleep.

Back on the ground, Kyubimon and Gaogamon sped off behind SkullBaluchimon careful not to arouse suspicion while the other digimon continued to attack him. Wolfmon simply moved into place keeping low as he watched Gaogamon for his signal.

During the time that the three were preparing their attack, the other digimon continued to attack SkullBaluchimon with all their might.

"Electro shocker!"

"Sunshine beam!"

An electric energy ball and solar energy beam connected together as they hit SkullBaluchimon squarely in the chest causing him to back up a tiny bit as he let out a gasp of pain.

"Pulse beam!"

A powerful sound wave came from his mouth striking SkullBaluchimon hard. He let out a growl as he lifted himself on to his hind legs ready to strike.

"Maul attack!"

Grizzlymon charged toward SkullBaluchimon knocking him backwards and hitting the exposed spot on his chest.

Gaogamon smirked as he nodded his head toward Kyubimon and Wolfmon seeing the perfect timing.

Wolfmon and Kyubimon shifted their gazes toward each other giving a quick nod. Silently the three jumped into the air ready to attack the unexpected SkullBaluchimon, who was trying to get to his feet.

"Dragon wheel!"

"Wolf blast!"

"Dash double claw!"

Kyubimon, Wolfmon and Gaogamon leapt into the air, Kyubimon started to spin very fast, her body became a swirling blue fire. Wolfmon gathered a silvery-white fire flame in his mouth. Gaogamon prepared to slash at him.

The attacks were a success, but SkullBaluchimon was not having any of it. Letting out a roar he threw them off sending all the digimon flying.

"Guys, get up!" screamed Tora horrified.

"Don't give up!"

The children felt useless just sitting there, there was absolutely nothing they could do. Yumi kept tensing up every time that their digimon got attacked. She knew that Victoria feared the worst.

"Kyubimon, you need to move!" yelled Victoria leaning forward clinging for dear life to the tree. She was yearning to jump from the three to run to her partner's side.

"Victoria, you need to sit back or you will fall! You said it yourself that Kyubimon will channel your strength, right? Well that's what she needs right now."

Victoria didn't take her eyes off the digimon she eased up just a little, but was still clinging on to the branch. _'Kyubimon, I believe in you. Please, digivolve!'_

Kisho's eyes opened wide staring off at the fight, Shaomon followed suit feeling the determination build within him.

"Shaomon digivolve to…Labramon!"

The children looked down in confusion of where a light shone on Shaomon.

"He's evolving, but I don't understand, I thought they only digivolve when the partner is actually awake," James said surprised.

"Maybe he's found away past that," Robert commented.

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

"Go Dobermon, help Kyubimon!" called out Kisho sitting fully up.

"You little sneak," Mark laughed.

Dobermon jumped down the tree heading to where the action was. Out of all the digimon, Kyubimon was the only one to be facing SkullBaluchimon, all the others were either keeping their distance or still on the ground after taking the latest hit of SkullBaluchimon.

"Kyubimon, get out of the way!" shouted Dobermon.

Kyubimon turned around to see him growling deeply. Smirking, she jumped into the air preparing to dodge the attack.

"Gray noise!" he let out a roar freezing SkullBaluchimon. Kyubimon landed safely on the ground next to Dobermon her teeth bared. "Black beam!" Not wasting any time, Dobermon sent out his second attack firing out a black beam from his mouth. The beam penetrated SkullBaluchimon's body destroying the digicore within. The building behind him blew up in the process covering the digimon in dust and debris. The children let out shouts and screams as they jumped down from tree and ran to their digimon.

"You guys did it, you're amazing, awesome teamwork!"

"You did great Labramon," Kisho said hugging his digimon.

"Did you have this all planned out, Kisho?" asked Mark walking over to him.

"Yes. Labramon and I knew that we'll need an extra ounce of strength. So we bided our time."

"Well I suppose we ought to get moving. There's no sense staying here any longer," suggested Yumi.

"Good idea," everyone agreed.

The digidestined and their digimon heading off down the dark path of the forest in the hopeful direction of a safe place to sleep.

**A/N: Wow that took three parts to complete. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Oh and just a little heads up, there's going to be more explanation with Kisho, as well watch for the mood change within him too. Next chapter coming soon.**


	20. Silence is key to survival

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for their reviews, greatly appreciated. Also, thank you to San Child of the Wolves for pointing out my mistakes, so with Robert and Yukito's their switched around by accident, just a heads up Robert's is brown, and Yukito's is orange, as well it wasn't suppose to be Yukito holding Kisho, it was Yumi. Anyway, here is the next instalment, this is another one thought up by San Child of the Wolves. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves and White Hunter for thier ideas for traps, greatly appreciated. It's got a Saw 2 vibe to it. Hope everyone enjoys it. Just a little heads up, because the italics have been used for thoughts, I decided to use bold for the sign language, it's like a script mode. Enjoy ^^ I also don't own Saw 2 either.**

**Chapter 20**

**Silence is key to survival**

Two days passed by since the group left the clutches of SkullBaluchimon and was now trying to keep themselves once again hidden from view of Etemon. It was a good thing now that four people now possessed their crests, making it easier to digivolve and fight Etemon.

It was late in the day as the seventeen continued their trek through an open field, long grass welcoming them in their wake, mountains on the far sides of them. Dark ominous clouds started to gather indicating a storm on their hands. A smirk flittered across Yumi, Victoria, Yukito and Kiva's face as they kept their heads down.

A cold chill swept through them as the temperature continued to drop. Everyone stuck together keeping each other warm, their digimon seemed to be perfectly fine with the weather change.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tora moaned aloud.

"Why do you say that?" asked Mark.

"I think we're in for a storm and it doesn't help either that we are in the middle of a field with no protection or have nothing to keep us dry. Unless Yumi is holding out on us," Tora replied clutching the black sweater that Yumi leant her tight around her.

"Don't you like the rain?" Victoria asked mockingly.

"And no, we have nothing of use for the rain," Yumi retorted cocking her head to the left.

"I think a good rain shower will do us all some justice. I know I'm in desperate need of a good soaking," Lalamon said airily.

Everything around them looked darker than what it appeared to be, like something from a picture. It reminded Yumi of some of her pictures she had hanging in her room.

A sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes taking in the beauty that surrounded the group. She could smell not only the cold air, but also a sense of rain formulating. It had a cool, damp smell to it, something she was very familiar with from home.

The grass seemed to grow longer along the way, becoming a nuisance to walk through. Tora found a need to start complaining again about the death trap of grass. Everyone seemed to just ignore her bitching and continued their way. Tora, feeling left behind and discouraged let out a huff and followed behind.

In the distance stood a single tree in the lonely field, Leaves only covered only part of the branch, while the rest remain bare. Yumi looked at it curiously thinking back at all her photos; she could picture somebody sitting underneath it staring up at the starry sky.

"Oh, this looks a little on the weird side," Yumi muttered blinking her eyes a few times thinking it was only a mirage.

"I thought this was your type of location, secluded and dark," commented Mark in a smartass tone.

Yumi shot him a look as she narrowed her eyes. "This is my styling yes, but this looks just a little too familiar to me like I've been here before," Yumi said.

"How can that be possible?"

"I've seen this in so many pictures," Yumi confessed.

"Maybe the artist got the idea from this place," suggested Kisho.

"Or it's the other way around, but one cannot be sure until one investigates. Come on, let's go," Yumi said running through the long grass.

"Great, Yumi is intrigued by something that resembles a picture and its threatening to rain. Could anything get worse?" Tora moaned.

With no further delay, a blinding flash of lightning covered the sky followed closely by a crack of thunder. Seconds later a torrential downpour was up on. Tora let out a whine as she pulled the hood up covering her head.

Yumi felt like a little kid again as she raised her head in the direction of the sky allowing the rain to hit her face. She picked up the speed a little as she felt free in the rain.

"Is there any particular reason as to why we are heading in this general direction?" called James.

"I'm curious about this area, I want to get a closer look," Yumi called back now leaping through the grass.

The others followed behind Yumi jumping in the entanglement of grass. The digimon except for Renamon were hopping up and down like their partners trying to keep up.

Once at the tree Yumi had a flashback of her picture in her room of the same tree and a girl sitting underneath in a long white dress with short sleeves. Yumi thought harder and recalled the girl being her in the spring season with her friends goofing off. Her hair billowed in the wind as she leaned against the tree.

"Okay, now that Yumi has reminiscent about her past, can we go?" Mark asked agitatedly.

"Victoria, don't you remember the field we were in back in the spring with Sammie?" Yumi asked turning her head to her two friends who were staring blankly at her.

"Yeah, what about it?" Victoria asked confused.

"This is exactly like that place, everything in this field, is identical to the one at home," Yumi pointed out.

"Holy, it does look like it too," Victoria said in awe. Kiva nodded her head as she recalled the area too.

"What are you talking about?" asked Tora confused.

"This place, we've been in this place before. Or somewhat to the same area."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. But it's really freaking me out."

"Well I hate to break up this walk down memory lane, but can we keep moving to search for a dry place?" Robert asked.

"Yes, I like that idea," Tora said.

"Oy! You guys are no fun."

The group trudged through the muddy, wet field leaving the tree lone in hopes of finding shelter. The triplets and Yukito were in no rush to find shelter like the others were. The water was very refreshing. The four didn't mind the rain; it was a part of life.

Penguinmon and Lalamon were another that could careless about seeking shelter. As for the other digimon, they were a little more annoyed about the rain; their fur was not a good thing to deal with wet.

"Hey, where did Lalamon go?" Tora asked.

"She's right - where did she disappear to?" asked Bearmon stopping as well to help search.

"Hold up everyone, lost digimon!" called James stopping after hearing Bearmon.

Everyone stopped in their tracks to help Tora search for Lalamon. Yumi slowed down after realizing no one was following her. Sighing, she turned around and ran back to the group to understand what exactly was going on.

"Holy-" yelled Yumi falling into the grass just a few feet from the group.

"Yumi, are you okay?" called Victoria worried.

"I think I found Lalamon!" Yumi's muffled voice sounded.

"Ow! I think I found Yumi!" cried out Lalamon.

"Tora!" yelled Yumi.

Tora ran over to where Yumi's arm rose in the air lifting Lalamon up. A smile spread across her face as she hugged Lalamon close to her completely ignoring Yumi.

"Thank you Yumi."

"We better keep moving, unless you want to stay out here!" Yumi groaned getting to her knees.

Not saying another word, the group continued their way through the unknown. The rain continued to pour heavily not giving any indication of letting up.

"Do you think there'll be any sign of cover in this bizarre place?" asked Tora.

"Who knows, it could be possible, but through this open field, I highly doubt it," replied Yumi.

The walk soon became an irritable one after some time. The triplets were getting frustrated with Tora's constant need to complain about the rain, the cold and where shelter could be.

A broken down log with the roots shown at the end came into view with the grass wrapping around it. Yumi let out a sigh of exasperation at seeing yet another familiar sighting. Kisho was the first to sit down on the log, they had already walked for twenty minutes and he was already exhausted.

"Kisho, I know you're tired, but we need to keep moving," Yumi said tiredly.

"Just a few more minutes," Kisho replied.

"I'm sure we can find shelter close by," Tora said urging everyone to move.

"Um…how about that?" Victoria said pointing into the distance.

There stood a large, three storey Victorian house. It boggled everyone's mind there was a place there in the first place, no one seemed to notice before hand.

"Okay…when did that get there?" asked James.

"Who cares, its shelter!" Tora shrieked running toward it not caring about that there could be consequences.

Yumi rolled her eyes as everyone ran off toward Tora. This was so typical of her to pull something like this.

The group made it to the house a few minutes later. It looked very old and very ominous, something that only the triplets could find inviting. One thing that surprised the group was the fact that it didn't look run down or falling apart.

"Wow, I'll have to admit, this looks like a nice place," Tora said in awe.

"Hey, look there's a sign here!" Kisho called pointing to a wooden sign a few feet from the staircase.

The group made their way over to the sign where a message read:

Silence is the key to survival

Confused looks spread across everyone's faces except for Yumi, Victoria and Kiva. Something about the message rang a bell in their heads.

"I say we go inside, at least we'll be dry," James said.

"Maybe we should find another place all together," Kiva and Puppymon said something came over Kiva telling her that it wasn't safe.

"This is the only place for miles."

"I say we go in!" declared Tora.

Yumi stood next to Kiva staring up at the house with mixed feelings about it the whole time. She could feel a bad vibe radiate from the entrance.

"This seems oddly familiar somehow," Yumi muttered as a knot formed in her stomach watching everyone take a step on the stairs.

"Wait! Just listen to me for a second. I have a very bad feeling about this place and I'm pretty sure Yumi and Victoria agree with me on this. There is something very wrong about this place. The sign has given a very clear warning," Kiva said, she still stood in the rain not wanting to go near the house along with Yumi. She looked over at Victoria who was standing by the staircase and the sign.

"Kiva, there is nothing wrong with this house. Come on, it's dry inside," Mark urged wanting to get out of the rain. Tora already had her hand on the knob ready to bound inside.

Kiva rolled her eyes as she watched the others prepare to go inside. Victoria shrugged her shoulders not caring what they do. Yumi shook her head as she rubbed her arms. Kiva rolled her eyes as she tipped her head back to allow the rain to wash over her face.

Victoria turned her back to the two girls and headed up the stairs to the porch. Yumi let out a groan as she followed behind her with Kiva and Puppymon at her side. Yumi felt a shock of fear go through her. Something really felt wrong about this house. There was something in there that was telling her to turn back.

"Where have I seen this before?" Yumi muttered staring at the door. "Maybe we shouldn't go in."

"How can you say that?"

"I just have this odd feeling that we are not meant to go in there."

"Do you see anywhere else that's close? No! So come on."

"Fine, since you are not taking my advice about leaving this place. Take this one instead. Keep your mouths shut!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just do it!"

Tora rolled her eyes as she threw open the door to reveal a wide open hall; the walls were a sunset orange colour. A broken mirror sat on the right, destroyed pictures on the left. There were two closed doors on the left side. A long hall appeared beside the staircase. On the right side was another long hall.

'_Puppymon, do not speak for me in this house. I fear that the sign tells more than just the simple words.'_

'_Understood.'_

All the children; except for the triplets, dropped their mouths in awe. Side form the broken mirror and picture frames the place actually looked really nice. But there were things behind those walls that apparently only the triplets could see.

Kiva tapped both Victoria and Yumi's shoulder to get their attention. The two turned their attention toward her watching her hands talk for her.

**Kiva: If we're not careful, who knows what could happen.**

**Yumi: I completely agree, but how are we going to tell them? They are not going to listen!**

Yumi pointed her thumb toward the other digidestineds' direction who was still gaping at the sight.

Through the silence that the children and digimon were giving, pitter-patter of feel could be heard through the darken hallways. It caused the digidestined to turn in every direction freaked right out.

**Victoria: What in the world was that?**

**Kiva: No clue, I can't even distinguish what hallway it's coming from.**

'_Keep your guard up, we can't allow this to scare us now."_

Tora was about to open her mouth to say something but was instantly stopped by Renamon. Renamon placed her paw over her mouth to stop her from talking. Tora struggled in the digimon's grasp demanding an explanation. Victoria saw this and stood by her digimon's side to get Tora's attention.

**Victoria: You have to be quiet. I know you are scared, we all are. But you can't jeopardize it now.**

Tora gave her a blank look for the longest time. She didn't know sign language, which meant that everything that Victoria signed to her meant nothing. Thinking quickly Victoria reverted back to a simple sign. She placed her finger on her lips indicating quiet.

The footsteps got closer to their present location making their hearts race with fear. Who could be coming to end their lives? How could their adventure be over already?

The digimon stood in a protective stance in front of their partners. They were already warn by Puppymon about keeping their mouths shut for as long as possible, which could make attacking difficult.

In seconds came what looked like porcelain dolls and puppets. The nine dolls had all sorts of faces, but seemed to be the same digimon. All of the digimon had pale faces like all porcelain dolls. A couple of dolls had dark shadows surrounded their eyes making them look dark. Cracked lines appeared around the left side of the face and the eyes looking like it had been thrown on the ground.

Another couple of dolls had blood like cracks along the face, from the forehead, to underneath the mouth. Dark bruise colour shadows surrounded the eyes with blood shot eyes with pure white pupils.

A few had simple black lips and eyes looking like gothic dolls something that the triplets would collect.

Another group had black shadows around their eyes along with wing style lines at the corner of their eyes. A crack was over the left eye and underneath the right eye with cracks along the cheek on both sides.

The last of the dolls had a little more detail; over the eyes from ear to ear was a deep red blush. Along the forehead was a soft red blush. Tears stained the face from the great amount of crying. The mouth looked really weird; one side of the mouth was stretched open into a smile revealing the teeth, while the other was a smaller black line.

'_Meet Porcelainmon, they might look like the average doll, but their deadly hypnotic eyes will put you under their control,'_ Puppymon analyzed.

Tora looked at them in disgust at their weird faces. She never liked these dolls in the windows; they were too creepy looking for her liking.

Yumi looked at the dolls in awe, these were some of the same as the ones she had at home thanks to her aunt.

The other digimon looked to be more of voodoo type digimon, the three were Lalamon's height, with green skin, stitch like mouths with pin needles help in their hands.

'_Meet Shadowmon, those pins are more dangerous than they appear to be.'_

'_What do you want?'_ Puppymon demanded growling.

"Our master was hoping that he'll have new victims to run his course," replied the one with the lopsided grin.

'_Well tell your master that we don't want to play any of his games. Kiva we're leaving,'_ Puppymon said.

The others were still stunned that the dolls were able to talk to them. What was so special that they were able to talk to them?

**Kiva: We're leaving, ignore anything that they say or do.**

Everyone turned to follow Kiva, who took lead of the group. She could sense the irritation rising within Puppymon and didn't want him to deal with it any longer.

"Show time," hissed a dark voice in the shadows hitting a few buttons.

Kiva went to turn the knob to their freedom only to find it locked.

'_Hey, what's the big deal?'_ Kiva fumed turning her head in the direction of Porcelainmon and Shadowmon.

"To escape your freedom, the game you have to play. Pass the test and you win your freedom," replied the Shadowmon.

**Yumi: What are you talking about?**

"Hee-hee, complete the traps and you shall see," the digimon said before vanishing.

**Victoria: I don't like this.**

'_Neither do I.'_

Tora went to open her mouth again causing Renamon to clamp her mouth shut again.

**Yumi: Tora, before I have to hurt you. You have to be quiet.**

Tora narrowed her eyes as she saw Yumi place her finger on her lips. How dare she remain silent, she had the right to talk, right?

**James: So what now?**

**Yumi: We play the game.**

**Robert: Are you crazy? We don't know what is in store for us, let alone know what will happen if we utter a word.**

**Victoria: Look, we don't seem to have a choice. We have to keep going.**

**Yukito: Hey, where did Tora go?**

Kiva narrowed her eyes in frustration. Was the girl that thick? She knew that there could be deadly traps; the girl must have a death wish or something.

Kiva: We have to find her.

With no arguments, the group headed down the hallway before them in hopes of locating her. The halls were like mazes leading off to different sections, or doors leading to decaying rooms. Their footsteps echoed down the halls with all the silence. It irritated everyone that they couldn't call out to her.

'_Where do you think she could have gone?'_ asked Lalamon.

'_No clue. Does she ever listen to anything anyone says to her?'_ Puppymon asked, even though he knew the answer.

'_Hardly.'_

Kiva, who was at the front of the group, slowed her pace down and strained her hearing hoping to hear some sort of sign of Tora's location. Everyone's nerves were already pretty high, and this was just adding to it.

**Kisho: Do you think she could have been captured?**

**Mark: I don't know, knowing her, yes.**

**Kiva: I head something coming from over there.**

Kiva pointed down another corridor to where a faint light shone from a room. The others looked in the direction hoping to see something.

**Yukito: I say we check it out. I rather investigate than not knowing at all.**

**Yumi: He has a point.**

Nodding, the sixteen took off down the corridor toward the faint light. Their hearts raced with the anticipation of finding a digimon. Renamon and Puppymon kept close to the front using their heading to catch any noise that could be made.

Yumi slowed them down just before they reached the door. She rather check it out herself before any of the others. She seen this far too many times in all the horror movies.

**Yumi: Wait right here.**

**Victoria and Kiva: Where are you going?**

**Yumi: Checking it out. I'm not afraid of getting hurt.**

Yumi poked her head in the door checking for any booby traps before proceeding further in. It looked like a large drawing room with a fireplace on the far side of the room. Two couches that looked torn and weathered sat close to the fireplace. Old pictures lined the opposite wall giving it an eerie presence.

Looking around Yumi noticed Tora standing at the opposite wall with her back turned toward her as she was looking at something. Yumi turned around and headed back to the door waving everyone inside. One by one the others made their way inside the old room. Yumi ran over to where Tora stood to get her attention.

Lightly touching her shoulder, Tora let out a little yelp as she spun around. Yumi didn't react in time as Tora was zapped into a glass capsule that appeared on Tora's other side completely engulfing her.

"Yumi, help me!" Tora screamed as she banged on the glass trying to escape.

Yumi stood there horrified as she watched Tora band on the glass mouthing help me over and over. Yumi had no idea what to do, she wanted to help her, but there wasn't anything for her to do, the capsule was seal proof and apparently soundproof too. Without warning the capsule and Tora disappeared leaving the children and digimon standing there shocked.

Everyone's jaws dropped open, excluding Victoria, Yumi, Kiva and Yukito. No one was expecting something like this to happen. Kiva looked around to see the twelve preteen teen's mouths still hanging open. Yukito smacked his forehand with his hand at the stupidity.

'_Why can't they just keep their mouths shut?!'_ she thought bitterly storming out of the room.

Victoria noticed Kiva leaving the room and decided to follow with Renamon at her side, leaving the other digidestined to continue to gap at the spot at where Tora disappeared.

Yumi was the next one to leave, she was still in shock of how close she was standing with her.

**Kiva: Now do you see the danger?**

**Victoria: Where are the others?**

**Yumi: Still in there.**

Kiva lifted her head to the ceiling in exasperation as she leaned against the wall.

**Kiva: Now that we've seen what could ultimately happen if we talk, I suggest we keep our mouths shut!**

It had been a few minutes later and they were heading for the second floor. She was still fuming that they were stupid enough to linger in the room for that long.

Upstairs was a little more darker than the main floor, mainly with the walls painted a dark purple. None of the door were opened either peeking their interest of curiosity.

Everyone's eyes remained opened and focused ready for the unexpected. Who knew what could be lying behind each door?

At one door, Kisho noticed something posted there. He tapped Yumi's arm to get her attention before pointing to the door.

Yumi followed his finger to see a note taped there. Raising her eyebrow, Yumi looked closer to see her name written on it.

**Yumi: Okay, who or whatever we are dealing with knows our names.**

**Mark: How can that be?**

Yumi ripped the note off the door and showed it to him. Mark's eyes slightly widened at the sight.

**Mark: Okay, officially freaked out.**

**Yukito: Hey, I think there might be something else added to it.**

Yumi brought it closer to see that the paper was folder in half. Curious she opened the paper to see what was written on the inside.

Face your fears; open the door and maybe be one step closer to your freedom.

Yumi was confused by the message as she turned it over to see if there was anything else.

**Kiva: What does it say?**

**Yumi: Face your fears. I'm going in.**

**James: Are you kidding me? It's too dangerous. We'll come with you.**

**Yumi: Don't care, and don't even think about it.**

Yumi took a deep breath as she opened the door wide. The inside was pitch black. Her nerves spiked at the unknown. She loved the dark, but when it came to a place like this she had to be on her guard at all times.

The sound of footsteps from the others sounded behind Yumi indicating that they didn't listen to her. Turning around to tell them off, those few who got through were sent hurtling backwards to the hall. The door slammed shut secluding her from the others as she went to bang on the door. Calming her breathing, Yumi turned her head back to the darkness. What had the note tell her? Face your fears? What did she fear the most? Losing those she loved? Spiders? No, she's collect them if her mother didn't threaten to kick her out. What else-

'_Oh no! Anything but that!'_ Yumi thought uneasy her breathing picking up again.

The ceiling slowly started to creak open causing her heart to race. She didn't known where could run or if she had any cover. Sounds of thudding came from every direction of her. Yumi could feel her breathing become shallow and uneven. Something slid across her foot making her jump as she shrieked in her head. She didn't want to scream knowing the consequences.

Candles flicked to life around the sides illuminating the room she was in. It was a plain room with dozens of snakes. Not just any snakes' but-

'_Coral snakes! One bite and its over!'_

Obviously hyperventilation took over as she looked on the floor at the hissing snakes with red, yellow/white, and black coloured bands. She was surrounded, there were too many to even count.

Her body tensed up as one landed on her shoulder. She fought back the scream that so desperately wanted to escape. It moved over her shoulder to get to the other shoulder. Yumi slowly moved her head following the snake. It's mouth opened revealing the sharp, deadly fangs.

This was the last straw. Silently apologizing to the others, Yumi let out a deafening scream as the fangs neared her shoulder.

She could feel a tingling sensation go through her body as she was sucked into a capsule, the same one that took Tora.

Outside, a few of them were banging on the door trying to break it down to get to Yumi. They had no idea what exactly was going on inside. With no sounds it was impossible to know if she was okay or not.

James, who was one of the ones to be banging on the door, turned to face Kiva, Victoria and Yukito, who were standing back allowing the boys use up their energy.

**James: Why aren't you helping?**

**Kiva: Truly want me to answer? There is no use in wasting your energy. Face it, Yumi sealed it fate upon opening the door.**

**James: She is your friend. How can you just say that?**

**Kiva: She knows the consequences. She has seen these styling of traps before. Why is this any of your concern anyway?**

Victoria tapped Kiva's shoulder to get her attention while James shrunk back from Kiva.

**Victoria: Now what?**

**Kiva: We keep moving. We have to find an escape.**

Yukito walked over to Robert and touched his shoulder to stop him from the banging. It frustrated them that they couldn't use their voices and the only way to talk to one another was through sign language, which was even more annoying when no one was facing each other.

**James: Mark, we're leaving. Kiva said don't worry any more.**

Mark hung his head as he left the door. It actually surprised him that he would willingly help Yumi. He wrapped his arm protectively around Kisho's shoulder leading him down the hall with everyone else.

'_Two down, fifteen more to go. Wonder how many more traps lie in wait for us?'_ Kiva wondered. Kiva's attitude truly had begun to change although she was already a cold, stubborn person, she was already showing signs that she didn't care who survived in the house or not. Kiva still held tight to her friendship with Yumi and Victoria but she showed different signs.

Rounding a corner, a weird feeling came over the children and digimon. Everything seemed to be normal about the hallway, but something didn't feel right to them. Laughter could be heard on the other end and through the closed doors. Puppymon, Labramon and Renamon barred teeth as they stood protectively in front of their partners and the other digidestined.

'_Puppymon, don't do anything rash, this could just be one of their tricks to lure you in,'_ Kiva warned standing in a fighting stance.

'_Renamon, only attack if necessary. I don't want anything back to happen to you,'_ Victoria said feeling their connection grow.

"We have your friends, and if you ever want to see them again all you have to do is follow us," taunted a Porcelainmon in a sing song voice.

Lalamon went to fly at her to attack demanding to know where her partner was, but Bearmon grabbed hold of her afraid of her careless actions. He knew that this could be a trap deployed by the Porcelainmon and Shadowmon.

'_Let me do!'_ screamed Lalamon telepathically hoping that Bearmon heard her.

'_Lalamon, don't be stupid, we don't need to lose anyone else here. We need to stick together as long as possible,'_ Puppymon snapped.

Lalamon still struggled within Bearmon's grasp. She wanted to get to Tora's side as soon as possible.

"Hee-hee, catch us if you can."

As soon as the Porcelainmon vanished down another hall, Lalamon wiggled free and followed after the dolls. Bearmon took no time in running after her to get her back. James, now terrified for the safety of his partner ran down the hall after him.

'_Is he that stupid?'_ Kiva screamed frustrated running after him.

Victoria turned her attention to the others shrugging her shoulders in an uncaring way.

**Victoria: Guess we're following them.**

**Robert: Guess so.**

The chase was on, Lalamon in front wanting answers, Bearmon behind her, a worried James right behind him and the others following closely behind them. Doors passed by the, with unknown answers to their doomed situation.

Another turn came into view, only allowing Lalamon and Bearmon to pass by. Something had come up blocking the others from continuing. James was the first to slam into the invisible force field.

'_Damn it!"_ swore James hitting the wall.

Victoria: James, keep focused, I'm sure there is another way to get to them,

'_Puppymon, where are you going?'_ asked Kiva watching her partner head down a small corridor.

'_There is a possible way to get to Bearmon and Lalamon, we need to go this way,'_ Puppymon replied pointing down the corridor.

**Kiva: Puppymon thinks he knows how to get to Bearmon and Lalamon. I say we check it out.**

**Victoria: Good thinking.**

The group followed Puppymon down the small corridor on tip toes, they weren't sure what was hiding behind the corner.

Puppymon crept forward to peer around the corner to see a dead end with a single door. Standing at the door was James, Bearmon and Lalamon, the Porcelainmon were no where to be found. The group figures that they must have disappeared through the closed door.

Victoria was the first to stroll over to take a better look at the door. Facing her was another note simply reading:

Lalamon, Bearmon, Penguinmon

Victoria turned around to face James with a questioning look on her face. Was this why he had a blank look on his face.

**Mark: What does it say?**

**Victoria: Lalamon, Bearmon and Penguinmon. Could they be next on the trap list?**

**Yukito: Don't even think that Penguinmon is going in there. We already lost Yumi, what happens if something bad happens again?**

**Victoria: We won't know until we go in.**

Turning around, Victoria turned the knob opening the door wide. Lalamon floated in cautiously along with Bearmon and James. Mark, Kisho and their digimon became apprehensive about going in, who wouldn't be? Yukito, Robert, Kiva and their digimon took precaution stepping into the darken room.

At first, nothing out of ordinary happened, it looked like any other room. One thing it did lack was just how big it was and where the lights were.

**Robert: Can this place get any more weirder?**

Yukito went to respond but before he could he felt his body begin to be pushed back, just like what happened with Yumi.

One by one, digidestined and digimon alike were thrown out of the room by an invisible force leaving only Lalamon, Bearmon and Penguinmon.

'_I don't like this one bit,' _Lalamon said fearfully.

'_You and me both, where could the others have gone to?'_ Bearmon asked looking around for a whereabouts of his partner and friends.

'_Where did the door go?'_ asked Penguinmon.

'_We're locked in here aren't we?'_ panicked Bearmon.

'_How are we suppose to get out?" _Lalamon asked.

'_Let's just calm down and think things through. What do we know so far?'_ Penguinmon asked taking charge.

'_We're locked in a dark room without our partners or friends,'_ Bearmon responded.

Outside the room, James and Yukito were banging on the door in an effort of rescuing their partners. It was their fault for even allowing them in the room in the first place. The two boys put on a great deal of blame on themselves over something that might not have been prevented.

**Kiva: It's useless to even think that you two can get back in.**

**James: How can you remotely say that? They are out partners, our friends. Are you that cold hearted that you don't care about anyone except yourself?**

Kiva strolled over to him and backhanded him across the face causing him to clutch his cheek. Hot tears formed in his eyes as he glared at Kiva.

**Kiva: Look, we're in a position right now where we are fighting for our lives. Sorry to say, but this is becoming a test of strength here. Going into a room like that, you're asking for trouble.**

**Mark: Kiva, is there something you are not telling us?**

**Kiva: Like what?**

**Mark: Like how you know so much about this house.**

**Kiva: It's not the fact that I know the house, I understand how these traps work. I've watched horror movies dealing with this kind of problem. If they were smart they would have stayed out of the room in the first place.**

James slammed his entire body against the door cursing under his breath at how much of a fool he had been.

Back inside the room the three digimon cautiously strolled through the room in hopes of finding a light switch. Lalamon was still determined to locate the Porcelainmon to demand the whereabouts of Tora.

Penguinmon and Bearmon kept their focus clear as they carefully shuffled across the floor. They weren't ultimately afraid of what was in there, it was more of the case of what could be waiting for them. They wished their partners were still by their sides to give them the extra burst of strength.

'_Come out and me face me you cowards!'_ yelled Lalamon not even caring any more about the dark.

'_Lalamon, give it up. They probably led us here to trap us. My only concern is finding a door that leads out of here,'_ Bearmon sighed.

'_You two do what you want. I'm determined to find Porcelainmon, I want to know the truth!'_

'_You have to give it to her, she has spunk!'_

A clanking noise sounded somewhere in the room forcing the three to freeze in their tracks. That did not sound good in their ears.

'_What was that?'_

'_Possibly just an object falling?'_

'_Ow! What was that?'_ cried out Lalamon after smacking into something in front of her.

'_You okay?'_ Bearmon asked.

'_I think so.'_

'_Do you hear that?'_ asked Penguinmon looking around at their surroundings more closely.

Bearmon and Lalamon went still to hear what exactly Penguinmon was hearing. At first nothing out of the ordinary could be heard. A second later, things changed almost instantly, a deep echoing sound could be heard from above as a cage came crashing down upon them trapping the three.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Lalamon yelled out loud.

"Lalamon no!" screamed the other two.

Like Yumi and Tora, a tingling sensation came over them as they were zapped into separate capsules. All three just glared at the state they were in, just before they disappeared from the room.

Outside, the remaining thirteen were already on the move after what Kiva told them about the traps. They were now on the opposite side of the house after bypassing a few more room and other ominous things along the way.

Kisho was picking up the speed a little keeping up with Kiva and Victoria completely leaving his brother's side. The exhausted half of him was beginning to diminish from him replacing it with frustration, irritation and anger. They had been in the house for almost an hour with no sign of escape and the loss of five companions already. He was realizing more and more of Kiva's determination of sticking together and looking out for number one.

Kiva could sense a new aura around her that was never there before. It was much like her own, dark, clouded and unpredictable. At first she thought it was Victoria or Yukito's but realized theirs were an in between neutral and clouded, nothing like she was getting now.

Looking down on her right, she saw Kisho and Labramon walking next to her, the wolf pendent still hanging around his neck. The aura burning strongly now that she was looking at him.

'_That's a first.'_

'_What's a first?'_ asked Puppymon curiously.

'_I never would have expected to sense such a strong aura coming from Kisho like I do now.'_

Kisho never showed any sign that he was listening whatsoever, his mind was completely focused on the target before him. Something inside of him was growing more and more. His dark aura seemed to be radiating off him. Labramon was feeling the change in him, and he knew that Kiva was feeling the same thing.

Kiva opened a door before them revealing another hallway, one completely different to all the ones they saw. Past the arches surrounded by darkness were ice blue stairs. The twelve children and digimon stared in awe at all the different stairs going different ways. There were some going up, some leading to the sides, others were upside down. One thing they all had in common was the fact that they all went through an arch way.

**Victoria: What's the plan?**

**Robert: Best bet is to keep moving no matter what. I'm sure the steps would lead out eventually.**

**Kiva: Stick together!**

The group made their ways to the first and only stair leading to the uncertainty. It was hard to tell which stair lead to where, or if there was a way out.

Puppymon, Labramon and Renamon kept to the front smelling their surroundings for any surprise visits. Behind them was Kiva, Victoria and Kisho keeping a good pace heading up each step.

Each turn they all made through the arch way sent each one to a different section. Kisho and Labramon seemed to have made their way three sections above the others. Kiva, Puppymon, Victoria and Renamon were hanging upside down defying gravity by remaining on their feet. The other boys and their digimon were going up side ways, or on another section repeating the same set of stairs.

'_This is getting frustrating. I hate watching these on TV or seeing them on pictures and I loath doing this myself,'_ Victoria said rounding a corner coming out near the middle. She cursed under breath as she realized that her next challenge was dealing with a set of stairs on an angel.

'_Patience Victoria, we still have a long way to go.'_

"_Where's Kiva?'_

Kiva herself stood confused at the top realizing that no matter what way she went she wasn't getting out any quicker. Puppymon sat next to her glaring at his surroundings. This was getting pointless, there had to be away out of here.

'_I hate playing mindless games. Let's just find a way out,'_ Puppymon thought bitterly.

'_I understand where you are coming from, but it is impossible to find a way out where the stairs don't want to cooperate,'_ replied Kiva equally bitter.

'_Can't we just smash through the wall or something? I'm sure that'll work,'_ said a new voice. Kiva was shocked, she was able to hear someone else's thoughts for once. She knew that Puppymon had access to anyone's mind but that was a rarity. The voice however sounded familiar.

'_Kisho? Since when can you speak telepathically?'_

'_For a while. No one seemed to care to listen to me. Labramon was the only one who could hear me. We've been speaking telepathically for a while, that's how we were able to join in the fish without saying a word,'_ Kisho replied almost monotone.

'_Answer me something. What's been going on with you lately? I don't care, I'm just curious.'_

'_I suppose I'm just getting fed up acting like I care about everything. That everyone should be all happy and perfect. Mark always told me that I've been hiding things I shouldn't be hiding. Probably doesn't help either when you live in a messed up household.'_

'_Don't I know it?'_

'_I've always kind of figured that you, Victoria and Yumi would understand, seeing that you've always held something inside of you.'_

Kiva looked at him in shock, who would have thought such a tiny boy could hold so much hurt and problems. Didn't help either that she knew that Victoria, Yumi and herself grew up the same way.

'_Hey where did Labramon go?'_ Kisho asked looking around.

'_Puppymon's missing too.'_

The two started walking the stairs in hopes of finding their digimon. Kiva kept in the back of her head to understand more about Kisho.

After an hour of wondering around, Kisho split from Kiva (not intentionally, the arches didn't keep them in the same location at the end). Kiva found Puppymon finally after exiting three arches. The only thing she couldn't find was the others.

Victoria and Renamon decided to keep heading up the stairs instead of going through the arches. They were already getting exhausted after climbing endless stairs. There were no sign of the others any more, it was like they completely disappeared from the area.

Victoria gave Renamon a cold look telling her that they needed to end this. Renamon nodded her head understanding her partner's irritation.

'_The others have probably already escaped the labyrinth of stairs and are continuing their search.'_

'_Do you suspect that this could possibly be our trap?'_

'_Maybe.'_

On one of the upside down stairs, Kisho hung freely not caring about the consequences of wasting time. Labramon was at his side once again giving his partner a sense of company. Both of them were slowly starting to think that the Porcelainmon, Shadowmon and their master were behind this. Kisho wasn't liking this at all, playing mind tricks like this was cruel.

'_Why don't you show yourselves? I know your hiding in here!'_ Kisho called out.

"You think you are a brave little guy don't you? You truly think you can challenge us?" replied Shadowmon, his voice echoing around the room making impossible to find them.

'_You cowards. Why don't you show face?'_

"Hahahahaha!"

As Kisho clenched his fist in anger at the taunting digimon he could hear a banging on the walls. Looking around Kisho searched out the possible sign of Shadowmon. Each way he looked there was only emptiness. Annoyance filled him greatly until Labramon scratched his leg to get his attention.

James, Mark and Gaomon were standing on the stairs above Kisho's looking relived.

**Mark: Kisho, stay right there we'll come get you.**

Kisho nodded his head not giving any sign that he was happy to see him or no. On one hand it was a good thing to see him again, just a glimpse of a familiar face was comfort to him but at the same time he though he was going to have some time to himself.

"Don't think you can save him now. What will you do when your like is in stake?" said Shadowmon.

In an instant, a black hole appeared underneath Kisho and Labramon, Kisho could feel the stairs give way causing the two to fall to their doom.

Mark and James were there seconds later trying to help Kisho and Labramon but their attempts were useless. All four let out screams as they neared their impending doom.

Capsules engulfed them and took them away from their current situation. Their time was up. This only left eight to deal with the traps.

The labyrinth of stairs disappeared leaving only a single door on the third floor remaining. Kiva, Victoria, Puppymon, Renamon, Yukito, Robert, Tentomon and Gaomon were once against together facing the door.

**Robert: Anyone know where Mark, James, Labramon and Kisho are?**

**Yukito: I have a feeling that their fates have been sealed. Perhaps that is why the stairs have disappeared.**

**Victoria: Well let's go and finish this.**

The eight left the room afraid that the stairs could come back and trap them forever. The new floor seemed about the same, just as confusing and just as annoying. Only difference though, there were three entrance ways likes tunnels leading to different areas. Curious, the eight made their way toward the new hallways to see if there were any instructions. Perhaps it could have been a test or one could lead to their doom.

Kiva came up to the wall in the center of all three to see a note posted there.

You've come this far, now will you take the risk again to tempt fate for a fourth time? Each hall leads to a certain location, but only one will lead you to your doom. Once you enter you cannot turn back choose wisely. Make your choice.

**Victoria: Kiva, what does it say?**

**Kiva: We have to choose a hall but we have to pick wisely, once we're in we can't get out.**

**Yukito: So, what do you propose we do?**

**Robert: I say we go to the one on the left.**

**Kiva: Are you sure that's a wise idea?**

**Robert: What other idea do you have? Split up?**

**Kiva: That's exactly what I'm thinking.**

**Yukito: Is that suck a wise thing to do?**

**Victoria: It seems a smart thing to do. Renamon, what do you think?**

'_It wouldn't hurt. As long as we don't rush into anything,'_ Renamon replied.

'_Kiva, go down the middle hall, it is safe. Gaomon and I will go down the right,'_ Puppymon said staring at the left hall.

'_What are you planning Puppymon?'_

'_Just trust me on this. And understand that no matter what happens I know you can get through.'_

'_For once, you're actually scaring me.'_

'_Just go, and take Victoria and Renamon with you.'_

Kiva stared at her partner trying to decipher just exactly what he was thinking. Was he crazy to suggest for her to leave him and go their separate ways? She didn't want anything to happen to him, he was her greatest friend, side from Yumi and Victoria.

Puppymon ran over to Gaomon to tell him his plan as Kiva turned to Victoria who was trying to decide where to go. Kiva tapped her friends shoulder getting her attention and waved her over to the middle of the three halls.

With everyone split up into their groups they entered the long, dark halls. Renamon remained in the front of the girls protecting them. Neither her or Victoria asked why Puppymon was not with her.

Down the left hallway Robert, Yukito and Tentomon cautiously headed down the hall careful not to make a noise. Yukito seemed a little apprehensive about going down the hall, he had a feeling about this certain way thinking they were going to get ambushed. He didn't mind Robert's decision making but when it came to three way split, whose to say that it was the right one.

The three kept their steps small and cautious afraid that one wrong move could set off a trap.

Robert could sense the hesitation from Yukito, he hated the fact that he could possibly have angered him by choosing the wrong place. Yukito was not one to judge quickly, but that didn't stop Robert from doubting himself.

On the right side both Puppymon and Gaomon kept up a good speed all the way down. Unlike the others they weren't afraid to take risks. Whatever happened to them they could handle it. Puppymon didn't feel guilty for sending Kiva down a separate hall, it was for the best. He knew that she could take care of herself no matter what was thrown at her.

'_What are we going to do if something shows up?'_ asked Gaomon.

'_We face it head on.'_

After some time, the two digimon came face to face with yet another door. Gaomon headed over to the door to see if there was a note. Sure enough, printed clearly on a sheet of paper was:

Gaomon and Puppymon

The two looked at each other with narrowed eyes, what could possibly happen now?

'_Shall we?'_

'_Let's get it over with.'_

Gaomon opened the door allowing Puppymon to run inside first. Like most of the other room, this was just as dark with no hint of furniture or anything. The door slammed behind the two before they were able to react.

'_Oh, this can't be a good sign.'_

'_What do you think it is?'_

'_Trouble. Either dealing with Porcelainmon, Shadowmon or that loser Etemon.'_

"Look who we've got here!" came a voice on the far side of the room.

Puppymon and Gaomon let out a groan at hearing the voice. _'Just our luck.'_

"So you thought you could actually escape me huh? The king doesn't think so. Dark network crash!"

'_Holy crap!'_ yelled both digimon dodging the attack.

'_We can't digivolve without our partners. What are we going to do?'_ asked Gaomon glaring at Etemon.

'_Attack him!'_

As Etemon went to attack again, Puppymon and Gaomon split apart going on either side of Etemon. A silent growl left the two digimon as they fought the urge to yell at him.

The two lunged toward him ready to attack him no matter the consequences. As they neared, Etemon strummed a cord causing the attack to hit the two digimon.

'_New plan, we attack! I don't care what happens to us, I want to be free of this creep once and for all,'_ Puppymon growled.

'_Right behind you.'_

"Puppy bite!"

"Double dash!"

The two went to attack Etemon, only to realize that he wasn't truly there, he was only-

"A holograph?! Damn it!" yelled Puppymon frustrated.

They could feel the tingling sensation go through them as they were trapped in the confines of the capsules. Both glared at each other feeling so stupid for falling for that.

To be continued…

**A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter, yes its another two part, and I promise it is only going to be two parts this time lol. Just to clear something's up in the room with the labyrinth stairs, the digimon are able to speak telepathically to one another, and Victoria, Kiva and Kisho are the only ones to speak it out of that room. Any other questions or comments feel free to tell me as well. Sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, I tried to catch them all, but I probably skipped over them. Enjoy ^^**


	21. Blood and Silence

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for your reviews, greatly appreciated as always. So here is the final part to the two part chapter. Hope everyone enjoys it, more flashbacks.**

**Chapter 21**

**Blood and Silence: Part 2**

At the end of the other two halls the six were once again reunited. Everyone saw that Puppymon and Gaomon were no longer there any more.

**Yukito: So those two went down the hall that held their doom?**

**Kiva: Apparently. I can't believe he did that though.**

**Victoria: He risked his life for you that is great friendship.**

**Robert: Let's not waste any more time, we need to find the others.**

'_Can we afford to lose anybody else?'_ Tentomon asked hovering over Robert's head. Renamon and Tentomon were the only remaining digimon and it wasn't looking good for them.

'_I don't think it really matters. Just as long as we can get out in one piece the better,'_ Renamon replied, realizing that their fate was already sealed when they walked through the doors.

The remaining six strolled down the hall in hopes of finding something, anything. Turning the corner at the end of the hall, there appeared back stairs leading downstairs. This could be a good sign as all six ran down all at once. There were three flights that they had to clear, but in their eyes it didn't matter, it was freedom.

At the bottom of the stairs the six looked around curiously as they looked around the floor they were on. It was unclear if they were back on the main floor or not. Not wasting any more time the group made their way down the only hallway in hopes of finding something of familiarity.

As the six continued their way down the hall, laughter could be heard again echoing off the walls. The group stopped again to listen carefully.

"Eleven down; only six remain. Afraid of losing any more?" came the taunting voice of Porcelainmon.

'_Okay, I am ready to rip their heads off.'_

"Be smart of where you tread, not everything looks the way it is. Don't you want to find your friends?"

The voice vanished leaving the six standing there furious. Their taunting were getting annoying and the uncertainty was already getting to them.

**Robert: Let's finish this, what more do they have up their sleeves?**

**Yukito: Let's think on this just a little more. We have already dealt with a labyrinth of stairs, disappearances behind the doors. I think their holding out for the worse here.**

**Robert: Why are you so scared?**

**Yukito: I'm worried about our safety.**

**Victoria: No more arguing. Let's keep going. I don't care any more about what happens. Kiva, I want you to keep going ahead of us. No matter what happens to us. I have a feel this is your time.**

**Kiva: As long as you are safe.**

**Victoria: We will be, just don't look behind you.**

**Yukito and Robert: Why are you sending her on her own?**

**Victoria: She knows more about this place and everything that has happened so far has been because of noise. Think about it, Kiva can't talk, she won't get trapped.**

**Yukito: Smart idea.**

**Robert: What about us?**

**Victoria: We deal with whatever comes our way.**

"So, that's your little plan is it? Well, let's see how you'll deal with this!" the dark shadow growled watching the screen and watching the sign to each other. He typed on his keyboard grinning wickedly.

Further down the hall, everything began to spin around the five digidestined causing them to brace themselves from falling.

'_What is going on?'_ Victoria asked.

'_Who knows, but it can't be good.'_

The walls stopped spinning giving the five the ability to take a good look around. Things were a little more different, none of the doors or corridors were in the right spot making things confusing.

Victoria could feel her heart begin to race, she hated the fact that whoever was causing these traps did not want them to go any farther.

**Yukito: Any ideas?**

**Victoria: We split. I don't care who is behind all this. I am not being his guinea pig any more.**

**Robert: If that's what you think is best. Yukito, I say we go through here.**

Yukito looked from Robert to Victoria and back again reading their expressions. He felt trapped in the middle; he didn't want to leave either of their sides.

**Yukito: All right, let's go.**

The boys ran through the door on the left leaving Victoria and Renamon alone in the corridor.

'_Victoria, what are you thinking?'_

'_If he wants to attack us, let him. I rather see the boys and Kiva safe for as long as possible.'_

Kiva ran down the long corridor not bothering to slow down. Her feet echoed in the silent house. She thought that she had made good distance between herself and the boys, Victoria and Renamon. She still couldn't understand Victoria's full reason for allowing her to leave the group. Somewhere deep inside of her she did have a feeling that there was a good reason behind it all.

'_Come out, come out wherever you are,'_ Kiva called out tauntingly. _'You little freaks.'_

She was getting fed up with this house and the residence inside. She was already at the front entrance once again. She couldn't believe that she had wandered the entire house. Kiva narrowed her eyes lividly as she turned her head in every direction trying to find a door that she hadn't been through. She knew that there was a door around somewhere.

'_I'm fed up with your little games! Open these doors and let us go!'_ Kiva shouted mentally staring at the ceiling. She didn't know or not if someone could hear her or if she was yelling for no reason.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You digi-brats will never escape," the dark shadow said.

Yukito, Robert and Tentomon came into a large open room with a fireplace on the far side. Nothing seemed strange about this room, but who was to say what that crazed digimon had in store for them.

**Robert: Whatever you do, don't touch anything.**

**Yukito: You don't have to tell me twice.**

'_What do you suppose this room has in store for us?'_ Tentomon asked hovering around to get a better look at the room.

**Robert: I don't want to think about it. There should be away out of here, but where?**

**Yukito: Try the fireplace; I'm pretty sure there should be a switch in there.**

**Robert: Do we truly want to be playing around with switches or mysterious things? What happens if it triggers our doom?**

**Yukito: If it gets us out of here faster, yes, I rather take the chances.**

Yukito made his way toward the fireplace while Robert and Tentomon scanned the rest of the room. Yukito felt his heart race as he reached the fireplace. He lightly touched the stone wall feeling for any loose bricks or any buttons.

Robert and Tentomon lightly touched the wall they were at and continued to run their hands over it as they moved. Robert was determined to find a switch to get the door opened. While he scanned the walls, he kept his mind on Yukito trying to understand more of his thinking. Sure, he had the same thought capacity as he did, but he was so stubborn. Robert loved that about him, he was a rebel.

Their differences were what made them have a great relationship, but he couldn't always keep up, especially when it came to the triplets hanging with Yukito. That was something he couldn't break up, Yukito was friends with them, long before their relationship started.

Outside in the corridor, Victoria and Renamon kept their defences up preparing for any sudden surprises. Renamon refused to move too far from her partner's side afraid of a sneak attack.

'_What do you suppose those digimon have in store for us?'_

'_You got me. But knowing those mischievous digimon it won't be good.'_

'_I wish they get it over with, I'm getting sick and tired of this continuous looking over the shoulder bit.'_

Back in the room, Yukito gave up on the search after coming up empty handed. He stood up and looked over at Robert who was staring back at him shrugging his shoulder.

**Robert: I give up; there is nothing in this room to any hints of a way out.**

**Yukito: Do you suppose that this was his whole idea in the first place? Trap us in a room and capture us, not giving any chance of escape?**

A rumbling noise could be heard from above the boys. Yukito raised his head to investigate the noise. Cracks could be seen forming on the ceiling. He lowered his head gulping as he looked at Robert with fear in his eyes.

**Yukito: We need to get out now!**

**Robert: What is going on?**

**Yukito: I believe the ceiling is about to collapse on us.**

**Robert: Are you serious?**

Yukito nodded his head as he scrambled to find a switch of some kind to open the doors and let them out.

Pieces of debris began to fall down upon the boys causing a frantic struggle to find the hidden switch. Yukito's breathing became heavy and short as he patted the wall hoping for something.

As bigger pieces came down, Yukito's foot came in contact with something on the hearth. He accidentally put his weight on the button unaware of it being there. Nothing in the room seemed to change whatsoever and the boys were getting even more freaked.

"Yukito!" cried out Robert stretching out his arm toward his boyfriend.

"Robert!" shouted Yukito stretching out his own arm.

Tentomon let out a terrified scream as a piece of rubble was close to hitting him smashing him into the ground. In an instance blue electricity formed around the three just as the capsules came to capture them.

"Damn it!" yelled the boys in the sound proof capsules disappearing from the room.

Outside in the hallway, Victoria stopped dead in her tracks as she heard whirling noises coming the walls. Renamon turned to face her partner not aware at first of the noise.

'_Tori, you okay?'_ Renamon asked stepping toward her.

'_I hear something,'_ Victoria simply said.

'_Where?'_ Renamon asked trying to get more info.

'_Within the walls.'_

Renamon's ears perked up as she tried to get a better listen to what her partner was hearing. This was freaking her out more than what they dealt with in the entire house.

On either side of the walls, small holes opened up revealing sharp, pointy metal spikes popping out ready to fly. Victoria's eyes widened in fear as she stared at the sharp spikes. Renamon stood in front of her in a fighting stance. If she had to take a piercing of the spikes she would just to know Victoria would be okay. In seconds the spikes came flying toward the two ready to pierce their body. Victoria let out a deafening scream as she dropped to her knees covering her head.

Renamon jumped into the air as she hands and feet became surrounded by blue fire.

"Power paw!"

The blue fire blasted toward the spikes encasing them in the intense heat. But nothing happened, the spikes weren't even affected.

Renamon stared wide eyed at the incoming spikes. This was it, her life was officially over. Just as the spikes came close to her face, glass tubes trapped them protecting them from harm and took the two out of the corridor. The spikes however were embedded into the wall where Victoria and Renamon should have been trapped.

Kiva slammed into the second door on the right of the first door that she tried revealing it led to a dead end. The new door she went through had been locked as if trying to keep her out. Before her was another dark stair well, the stairs were right in front of her.

Smirking, Kiva ran down the stairs hitting the steps with full force determined to get her hands on the digimon responsible for all of this. She didn't care if she fell down the stairs or not, this was well worth it.

Her eyes flashed with anger as she leaped over the railing leading to another landing. Above her lights flickered to life as she leaned over the railing with only four steps remaining. She knew that she wasn't going to have an easy trip to find the others but it was worth a shot.

The dark figure slammed his fist down hard on the desk cursing under his breath. The other digidestined and digimon stood in their glass tubes watching horrified at the screen where Kiva now stood at the bottom on the stairs observing her surroundings; she was anticipating the outcome of an attack.

The figure appeared to be a puppet like digimon that looked like Billie from the Saw movies. He wore a black tuxedo with a red bowtie. His face was white with red lips and a mannequin style mouth.

"Meet out master, Lord Hushmon! He thrives on the quiet, but when he gets angry, he unleashes his furry on his enemies," Porcelainmon analyzed.

Hushmon noticed her stalling and waiting for an attack, a grin formed on his face as he saw this as a great opportunity to capture her as well.

Back in the hallway, Kiva made her way toward the metal door that was only feet from her. This had to be where the digimon was hiding and where he was keeping the others hostage.

Nearing closer to the door, Kiva could hear something coming close toward her. Turning her head she saw knives flying toward her intending on killing her or at least making her scream.

Thinking quickly, she ducked in time allowing the knives to hit the wall instead. As she stood up a smirk grew on her face.

'_Is that truly all you have? That is purely pathetic!'_

"That little brat!" roared Hushmon. "I **will** make you scream!"

Kiva brushed herself off as she pulled one of the knives out of the door and held it in her hand for a moment.

'_This should come in hand in the future,'_ she thought grimly, placing it carefully in the side of her pants.

She pushed open the door with all her might revealing yet another large room. First thing that her eyes came in contact with was the digidestined and digimon. Her eyes widened with relief at the sight of them. Opening the door more, she noticed the Porcelainmon and Shadowmon hanging around a puppet.

Hushmon glared at Kiva furiously seeing her standing in the room. He completely snapped as he sent out attack after attack toward Kiva wanting her to scream. When Kiva only stood there smirking at him, he got even more pissed off.

"Scream or speak already you worthless child!"

Kiva silently laughed at Hushmon giving him a rueful and bitter smile. _'I am mute. So it's a good thing I didn't fall for your traps, or I'd probably be dead, because unlike __**them**__,'_ she pointed toward the others with the same bittersweet smile. _'I can't scream for help…I can't scream and get zapped…I would end up dead. I'd be chilling with the devil in the pits of hell. But either way, they really shouldn't take their ability to speak, talk, laugh, scream, sing, yell and everything else you can do with a voice that I, as a mute can't, for granted.'_

Hushmon growled furiously as he tried to zap her only to have her still standing there smirking.

"Damn it!"

"Master, it only works on those who speak. Since she can't speak, it won't work," explained one of the Porcelainmon.

Hushmon turned to her fuming. "You think I don't know that?!" Hushmon zapped her with his attack sending her into a capsule along with the others.

'_Your fury will be your doom one of these days,'_ Kiva spat.

Hushmon glared at her ready to strike. There was a glare off between Hushmon and Kiva. It was a battle of wits, like this was going to decide right there and then who won. As the staring contest continued a blinding light shone from the floor. Everyone shielded their eyes as the light got brighter. After a second went by the harsh light disappeared leaving only a darker one.

Hushmon turned his head toward the light in horror at what was about to show up. Kiva stared in shock as she stared at the dark light. She knew something good was about to happen. Just like the others, the black light completely swarmed the room descending everyone in darkness for a short time.

An image of a leaf appeared within the darkness for a second or two before shrinking into a crest.

The other digidestined grinned wickedly seeing that Kiva now held the new power and would not be afraid of unleashing its strength.

When the crest slid easily into the tag, it sent the dark light from the room to surround Kiva momentarily before everything went back to normal.

"Do you think a mere light show is going to scare me?" Hushmon demanded.

'_I wasn't thinking so much of a light show, more of a very irate digimon,'_ Kiva simply said calmly tilting her head toward the tubes.

"What are you talking about?"

Inside Puppymon's cage, he stood there growling as a dark light shone around him. He was not impressed being locked up in a glass cage. His teeth were barred and his eyes burned with rage. The tube was becoming foggy from his heavy breathing.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Wolfmon's large wolf form broke through the glass tube, pieces of glass shattered over Kiva, Hushmon, Shadowmon and Porcelainmon.

"You will pay for what you have done to us!" he growled dangerously.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Hushmon replied sarcastically.

'_Wolfmon, let's show his what your ultimate form can do!'_

'_Good idea.'_

The dark light reappeared around Kiva and Wolfmon as the crest was activated. Wolfmon let out a howl as the transformation was put into effect.

"Wolfmon digivolve to…" as the dark light shone around Wolfmon, something seemed to change about him. "Okamimon!"

Okamimon was a large black wolf with two tails, making his previous form look more like a normal size wolf. His eyes were now glowing blood red making him look highly dangerous. His paws, ears and two tails were surrounded in blood, which surrounded the ground he was standing on. His fangs were also blood red and dripping blood and drool. His fur was more spiked and ruffled up, giving him a more mangy appearance. He has several blood red virus markings on his body, mainly on his back, forehead, neck, shoulders and outer thighs.

The others gasped in shock at seeing this creature; it sent shivers down their spies at seeing him standing there. Even Yumi, who didn't fear much, seemed almost petrified of him.

"Okamimon, he is one dangerous digimon. He is not a trustworthy digimon; he will rip you to shreds if you allow him. His screaming blood attack will leave you praying for death," Tentomon analyzed.

"Kiva, be careful!" screamed Yumi not caring that her screams were useless.

Kiva grinned wickedly at seeing her digimon's new form. She wasn't fully aware at how dangerous the situation was just yet.

Okamimon growled deeply, making him sound like he was from the depth of hell. More blood pooled around him with every exhale. He couldn't wait to rip into Hushmon's body.

"Porcelainmon, Shadowmon show him what you are made of!" yelled Hushmon.

The digimon flew toward Okamimon preparing to attack him in hopes of protecting their master.

"You dare send your minions to face me coward? So be it!" Okamimon roared. His voice was deep ad filled with fury. "Screaming blood!" The symbols on his body began to glow as he sent out his attack.

The blood hit four Porcelainmon causing them to scream in pain as the blood seeped through them as if it were acid. It ate away most of their faces making them look more grotesque than normal.

"Holy shit!" Yumi and Victoria breathed terrified.

Okamimon let out a booming laugh as he stomped toward the withering Porcelainmon. When he got right in front of them he lifted lone of his giant paws and slammed it down hard on them.

The digidestined and their digimon gasped in shock at what he had done. If one step could kill do that, then what else was he capable of?

"Go!"

The rest of the Porcelainmon and Shadowmon ran toward Okamimon ready to revenge their friends' death.

"Demonic snare!"

"Poison needles!"

"Blood lust!"

A blood mist formed in the air above the approaching digimon causing them to momentarily stop before completely disappearing from sight.

"It seems that you have no one to protect you any longer, prepare to meet your doom!"

Hushmon braced himself for attack concealing away any fear that he might have toward Okamimon. Okamimon himself merely laughed seeing the fear just radiate off Hushmon.

"Silent fear!"

"Storming blood!"

Hushmon easily dodged the attack before it struck him. Okamimon on the other hand laughed at his futile attempts. How pathetic did he seem? Any mere attacks just bounced off him.

While Okamimon had Hushmon distracted, Kiva made her way toward the controls and started to hit random buttons hoping for one to release the others. She kept getting frustrated at the fact that nothing seemed to work for her.

'_Release button, release button, where could you be?'_ Kiva asked hitting different keystrokes.

Time ticked by before the sound of thudding could be heard by the tubes. Spinning around, Kiva could see the others either pushing themselves to their feet, rubbing their heads or rubbing their backs.

"Oh sweet freedom," Tora cheered.

"That didn't take you long before you started talking again," Victoria said bitterly.

"Didn't you get anything out of this experience?" asked Yumi.

Kiva ran over to the others, relief flooding over her at seeing them again, (or at least Yumi, Victoria and Yukito).

"You did it Kiva, great job!" Yumi said impressed.

"Okay, I suggest we get out of here before **he** decides to come after **us**!" Tora suggested staring at Okamimon.

**Kiva: I am not leaving him. I don't care what you do, but I am staying.**

"Kiva, he'll kill you," Robert said concerned.

**Kiva: He's my digimon. He will not hurt me.**

Kiva turned her head back toward her digimon who was shaking Hushmon in his teeth like a mere rag doll. Hushmon looked a wreck, blood dripping from his body from where Okamimon tore into him.

"How are you not terrified of him?" asked Mark.

Kiva couldn't answer that question, she was in between feeling scared out of her mind and impressed by her digimon's strength. She truly thought that this was her digimon's true form.

"I am through playing. Time for you to die!" Okamimon said, he sounded muffled with Hushmon in his jaw. He threw him into the air, jumped up himself and swatted Hushmon with all his might back to the ground.

Hushmon let out a groan as he landed hard on the ground. He could barely move. He allowed his fate to come to an end right there and then. He just gave up, although he didn't put up much of a fight in the first place.

Okamimon slammed right on top of him killing him instantly. He had no regrets for killing out of blood. At first he didn't notice the humans standing there until he head voices talking all at once. Turning his head sharply toward the group, his blood red eyes burning with the desire to kill.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he sneered.

"Oh shit," Yumi gaped stunned.

"Run!" cried Robert pulling on Yukito's hand urging him away.

"Good idea," replied Yumi.

"I don't think so, none of you are leaving this place," Okamimon boomed.

'_Okamimon, what is going on? This is not like you,'_ Kiva said confused still thinking that Okamimon was the actual evolved form of Puppymon and that he wouldn't harm her.

"Ha, that is too funny. You truly think I am anything like that worthless mutt? I am nothing like him. You have no idea what you are in for, none of you!"

"Kiva, what does he mean by that?" asked Victoria.

**Kiva: I have no clue. I wish I knew though, it would make so much more sense.**

"You know exactly what is going on," Okamimon replied referring to Kiva.

"How about you be clearer on your messages!" Victoria snapped.

Okamimon turned his head toward Victoria who was standing with her arms crossed in front of her. "Ah Victoria, the girl who has never been able to stay in one place for too long. Parents not love you that much? Why don't you mind your own **business**?" Okamimon shouted the last word as he swatted her away causing her to slam up against the wall on the far side.

"Victoria, NO!" yelled Renamon and Yumi.

"How dare you attack my partner!" Renamon snarled.

"Do you truly think you can go up against me? Were you not watching me take out those other digimon? What gives you the idea that you can stop me?"

Renamon growled viciously unsheathing her claws as she barred her teeth. Yumi placed her hand on the fox digimon's shoulder trying to calm her down.

"Renamon, you need to keep your cool. We can't afford to lose you as well."

"Do you always hide behind that tough exterior? Or do you truly believe you can take on anything?"

Yumi narrowed her eyes not looking at Okamimon for the moment. "I know I can take on anything!"

"Oh really? I see otherwise. Were you always blaming yourself for your father leaving? Or perhaps it was the fact that you couldn't accept the fact that he never wanted you in the first place? Or is it perhaps the problem that you are without a digimon partner and you just need to prove to yourself that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself? Even though you're not!"

Yumi shut her eyes tight trying to force the tears from stop flowing. This was a lie. All of it was a goddamn lie! Her father lover her, he even told her so. She knew that her partner was out there, he just wasn't able to get to her yet.

Okamimon laughed triumphantly, he was looking right into her soul and saw all the conflict that went on at home. None of her friends knew the true extent of her problems that went on in the secret of her house. When Yumi was at her breaking point, Okamimon swatted her with his tails into the same wall as Victoria.

"Now then, who else do we have here?" Okamimon taunted facing the group again.

'_Leave them alone! This is not their fight!'_ Kiva demanded stepping up. Fury filled her body as she stared into Okamimon's eyes searching for the reason for attacking the others.

"Ha! You truly think I'm going to stop just because you told me too? Your completely pathetic than I thought you were. You are just as worse as those pathetic losers you call friends! You try to hide behind a tough exterior so you never have to deal with the pain, torment or the chaos. You refuse to tell your friends, thinking you are helping them that way. Not realizing all you are going is putting up more walls and pushing them away."

Kiva shook her head denying everything that Okamimon was telling her. She couldn't believe that he would remotely come out with this.

"Don't you be shaking your head at me. You know this is all true. You truly think I don't know what is going on in that mind of yours? I can read you like an open book and there is nothing you can do about it!"

"Kiva, what is he talking about?" Yukito asked.

Kiva wanted so badly to turn to face him and tell him to go get Yumi and Victoria and get out of the building. This was her fight, she needed to tend with Okamimon herself. But her body refused to cooperate, instead she stood there facing Okamimon too terrified to lose connection thinking something bad would happen.

Yukito went to tap her shoulder to get her attention thinking she was ignoring him, only to have Okamimon stop him by laughing.

"Don't think you can get to her. She is trapped within my powers."

"You can't hold her forever!"

"What exactly do you plan on doing to get her back?"

"It's not what we'll be doing, but what our digimon will be doing."

"Too funny, I can easily squash your digimon like little bugs. Trust me though, I will enjoy tearing into you as soon as I am finished with **her**!" Okamimon pointed toward Kiva who seemed to be in a trance of some sort fighting against Okamimon.

~Flashback~

An eleven year old Kiva stood in the kitchen of her apartment covered in scars, bruises and pieces of glass shards sticking out of her skin as she tried to protect herself from her mother's continuous throwing of the silverware. The floor was littered with broken pieces of glass.

It had been two days since the passing of her father and her mother had finally snapped taking out all of her anger on her daughter.

"This is all your fault you worthless excuse of a child! He would still be here if you didn't have to be so selfish!" her mother, Ai, screamed hysterically, throwing a glass at Kiva who ducked in time to hear it smash into the wall scattering the remains on the floor.

Kiva tried to tell her mothers she was sorry in sign language, but it only caused Ai to become more enraged.

"Why don't you talk you stupid bitch? Adrian was too gentle with you. You know what? You don't have that back up support anymore."

Another plate came whipping at Kiva's head. As she went to duck, her feet slipped on the glass lying around causing her to fall and land hard on the shards causing them to embed themselves into her.

"You could have avoided all of this if you allowed him to survive!"

~End flashback~

Kiva tried her hardest to push the thought out of her head. She could hear Okamimon laugh at finding a weakness inside of her.

"So, it was your entire fault your father died, huh? Go figure you are a worthless child. You blame yourself for his death. That you cannot deny that from me! If you had not pushed your parents to take you to the park, he still would be with you. That truck driver would not have come barrelling down the street!"

Kiva stared at him in shock as tears formed in her eyes threatening to fall freely. He had no right to say those things, especially out loud so that everyone could hear it. She fought so hard to keep it in control as she tried to go deep into Okamimon's mind to find something, anything on him. She could feel him continue to tear into her finding all the right buttons to push. He could feel her become weak as she stood there. Kiva cursed herself for not being able to do this herself. She couldn't find where to look or what she truly was looking for.

Okamimon found this both amusing and annoying all at the same time. She had no right to be scanning his mind. Furiously, he turned away from Kiva wrapping his tails around her, almost whipping her as he squeezed the breath out of her.

The others stood there terrified at the sight, they didn't want to interfere with the two of them but they needed to protect her.

Okamimon finally released his grip on her and sent her flying across the room.

"You are a worthless child, a worthless tamer. Do you truly think I wanted you as a partner?"

Kiva remained on the ground too shock and stunned at his words. He was wrong, she knew that Puppymon was in there and would never say those things to her.

The others gasped at Okamimon's actions toward Kiva. Renamon took the time to run toward her partner and friends making sure they were all right. The remaining digidestineds had to contend with Okamimon's mind torture.

"Well, now that **she**'s out of the way it is your turn," he sneered at the digidestined.

"Don't think you can manipulate us the way you manipulated them," Yukito said outraged.

"Oh is that so? How many times do all of you rethink your actions, or think that you made the wrong decisions? You truly believe that you are all good tamers? Bah! None of you know anything. I'm surprised that your digimon aren't even dead yet! You walk in the shadows of three measly girls, all who can't even contain their emotions.

But I can see too that out of all of you, two are in a relationship. You two hide behind a mask believing that everything is going to be okay, that nothing wrong is happening in your lives. But I can see right past that, you two are completely unsure of your future together and doubt your relationship. Afraid that you can't handle the pressure anymore? Or is it that you can't see eye to eye and you want to leave each other?"

Yukito and Robert shook their heads as they grasped each others hands tightly. Their breathing became irregular as Okamimon continued to dive further into their minds. Neither one wanted to shed a tear, not wanting to give him an ounce of gratitude.

"You can't hide it from me and apparently you can't hide it from your friends any longer either."

Okamimon continued down the line diving into everyone's minds, exposing their fears, doubts and weakness to everyone around them. Tora had self-conscious of herself, completely doubting in what she could ultimately do in the long run, truly causing Okamimon to expose more about her with her parents being absentee parents, her troubles in the past with making friends and her constant need to be accepted.

Okamimon brought up Mark's fear of his parents fighting, something that he wanted to keep well hidden. Kisho knew that their parents fought, but never knew that he was sitting right there close to the fight.

James' doubts came to life that he would lose everything around him and that it would be his entire fault in the long run. He hid behind a lie that if he could act like a crazy person like he was, maybe everything would be fine.

As for Kisho, the youngest of the group and the one who seemed to be caught in the middle of two groups, seemed to be more complex then Okamimon anticipated from him.

"Ah, the youngest one. The one truly filled with weaknesses, hidden secrets and fears. You hate the fact that you have to be hiding behind your brother's shadow and be expected to follow in his footsteps. You always hated the fact that your mother prefers him over you."

"Not true Kisho!" shouted Mark.

"Silence, you both know the truth. Mark has been on the earth longer and will always be mommy's little boy. You're just second rate."

"Leave him alone. He doesn't deserve to be attacked like this! Why don't you just back off, you've won! Is that what you wanted? To make us all feel worse about ourselves?" shouted Yumi struggling to her feet blood dripping down her front.

"Is that what you think? Let me tell you something. You are wrong. None of you like to accept the fact that you hide behind a blanket of lies and take it out on those you deem below you."

"That is a down right lie!"

"Is it? You seem to be doing a lot of it. Hate the fact that your own mother won't defend you when your step-father hits you?"

"SHUT UP!" Yumi screamed. No one truly knew that secret, she never like to talk about it, even to Victoria and Kiva who had their own problems to contend with.

"You know it's true. You keep it from your friends, worried what they'll say?"

"Enough!"

"Stop lying to yourself!"

'_She said enough. Yumi is right, you can't just attack someone for your own entertainment.'_

"Hahahahaha! So you've come back for more have you? Wanted more abuse? Like you haven't had enough of that at home?"

'_You can't break me any more than I already feel!'_

'_Is that what you think? You can never accept the fact that you are a complete burden to me, how could I have even chosen you as my partner? You are weak! You could never be as strong as I am! You even doubted this yourself. You even think that you are a burden to your friends, you only see yourself in the way of everyone.'_

'_Not true!'_

'_It's all up here Kiva,'_ Okamimon said pointing to her head. _'Daddy, daddy, I'm so sorry.'_ Okamimon's voice changed back into Puppymon's voice while taunting her. Kiva could feel her heart skip a few beats. She could feel it break with every word. More tears welled up in her eyes as he continued. _'He would still be here if you hadn't been so selfish in the first place! I wish it was you who had gotten hit, maybe I wouldn't be in this state!'_

Kiva couldn't differentiate between what was true and what was a lie. She felt torn in all the things he was saying to her.

'_It's your entire fault!'_

'_You're wrong! I didn't kill my father! It wasn't my fault!'_ Kiva yelled frustrated in her mind trying so desperately to break free from Okamimon's mind torture.

"Just keep telling yourself that, but deep down, you know I'm right. You know it's true. It **IS** YOUR entire fault. So no matter what you say or how much you deny it, you killed your own father!" Okamimon said gleefully watching his weakened partner crumble in his words. _'You have no idea how much I truly hate you, and that is no lie.'_ With Kiva completely out of it, Okamimon pinned her to the ground pressing against her like he was going to crush her. A wicked smirk spread across his face at the pleasure of destroying her. As he applied more pressure on her torso, he caught a glimpse into her mind that seemed to be well hidden from everything else. It was her Adrian, at first Okamimon thought it was just another memory he could use to his advantage until he something more.

It was late at night a full moon in the sky, Adrian was away from his home, as the moonlight cascaded down upon him, his human form soon disappeared in a transformation into that of a large black wolf. Okamimon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kiva who struggled under his weight, it didn't take a genius to figure out that thanks to her father, Kiva would inherit the same traits later in life. He let out a growl as he lowered his head toward her. "You are not even worth crushing under my paw!" Okamimon growled swatting her away sending her sliding across the floor. "Worthless child!"

"Kiva!"

Okamimon just stood there laughing his booming laughter. He had done it, he broken the digidestined. With the rage still forming inside of him, he soon began to go on a rampage around the room they were in sending out attack after attack causing the walls to crumble around them.

"We have to get out of here!" shouted Mark getting to his feet.

"He's right, we need to move!" agreed James.

Those who were able to walk grabbed hold of their digimon and ran for the door leading to the stairs. Renamon picked up Victoria and placed her on her back and carried Kiva carefully cradling her neck and under her knees. Yumi limped all the way to the door following Renamon as close as she could. Okamimon didn't notice the absent of the digidestined until the door slammed behind Yumi.

"You dare escape me!" roared Okamimon.

"Go!"

As the digidestined ascended up the stairs to the main floor, everything began to shake around them as Okamimon got furious. With all his anger building up, he was causing the house to collapse. He ran up the stairs following after them wanting to sink his teeth into them.

Outside moments later in the rain, the group watched the house collapse within itself destroying any remnants of the traps that Hushmon set for them or the torture of Okamimon himself. Renamon set Victoria and Kiva on the ground once they were conscious again, the triplets were standing next to each other staring in shock at the sight before them. Kiva stared in disbelief that her partner had attacked her the entire time, she never thought that she would ever see that in all her life. One thing was still clear to her, no matter how much she was in shocked over it there was no where to be found. All the life in her seemed to drain away leaving only a hallow body.

She walked over to the destroyed building ignoring the protest of Yumi, Victoria and Renamon. Her eyes glazed right over as she started to lift rock after rock and throwing it to the side.

'_Puppymon, can you hear me? I need you so much right now!'_

No response. She feared the worse that he could actually be dead. She kept throwing rocks and debris to the side determined to find Puppymon. The others only stood there watching dumbfounded.

Yumi was the first to go over to Kiva and help out with the search. The others all gave her an are-you-kidding-me look. They couldn't believe that Yumi would even give her time to retrieve Puppymon after all the things Okamimon said about her. It still bothered them that Kiva was looking for him. She really got the down low of his torture.

Yumi began to dig through the rubble, throwing aside bits and pieces of debris getting in her way. She could tell that Kiva, although not paying attention to her, was silently grateful for the help.

Soon after Victoria and Renamon joined in on the search, not caring what Okamimon had said to them or had done. Kiva was their friend and the true Puppymon was in there somewhere. As the two got to work, Victoria turned back to see Yukito, Penguinmon, Robert and Tentomon joining in on the search, leaving behind very confused James, Mark and Tora who didn't believe Puppymon deserved a chance at redemption.

Kisho seemed to be caught within the middle between wanting to help and not wanting to anger his brother for doing something that Mark didn't believe was right.

Victoria narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Get your asses over here! We can't do this alone!"

"Why should we bother to help search? This is the same digimon who put us through hell!" Mark snapped.

"No, the one who put us through hell was Hushmon! Okamimon just surfaced everything that we've been hiding. You have two seconds through to get your lazy, good for nothing asses over here and help us!"

The three digidestineds just stood there in shock at Victoria's authoritativeness. Kisho was now in the pile digging along side Labramon who was digging like there was no tomorrow.

After a minute of contemplating their decisions, James, Tora, Mark and their digimon joined the rest of the gang in search of Puppymon.

There were so many things that Tora wanted to say out loud to Kiva but bit her tongue not wanting to get into a confrontation, especially when dealing with rocks and bricks at her disposal.

Minutes passed by, which turned into hours, no one seemed to care any more of how long they were searching for. The pile behind them was growing higher and higher while the one in front of them got smaller and smaller.

"What would the chances of him still being here, be?" Tora asked wiping the sweat from her head.

"There's no doubt about it, he's in here somewhere," Yumi said slight monotone. She had read Kiva's quick sign language and got the hint that she was determined.

"But couldn't there be a probability of him being back as a digi-egg or worse?"

Victoria and Yumi turned their heads sharply giving her a death glare.

"Okay, okay, sorry for that suggestion."

Further and further the group got into the rubble determined to find something, anything. Kiva was still out of it not giving any sign of actual life. She was still calling out mentally for Puppymon hoping that their connection could come through.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Yumi shouted from her spot as she carefully cleared away the mess before her. Black fur appeared against the dark rubble. At first she didn't realize it was fur until she went to take it out. "I have him, oh gods, Puppymon hold on," Yumi said desperately clearing away all the debris from Puppymon. At first he looked limp and still on the ground. Yumi gasped in horror as she pulled him closer to her. His tiny black body was very light like a new puppy. She realized that he had dedigivolved all the way back to Pupmon.

Yumi stroked his fur as she kept him close, praying for a miracle to come through. As she kept it up, he started to shake almost in fear. Yumi couldn't believe her eyes, he was going to make it after all. She let out a little choke as she tried calling Kiva.

"Kiva, Kiva!"

Kiva was instantly at Yumi's side carefully taking Pupmon into her arms. He slowly opened his eyes a little staring into Kiva's eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Pupmon mumbled over and over again. Kiva shock her head as he brought him closer to her.

'_It's over, it's all over,'_ Kiva assured referring to the chaos that Okamimon put on all of them.

The other digidestined all backed away from Kiva, giving her space with Pupmon. No one could believe the fear that she felt with almost losing Pupmon. It was such a scary thought.

**A/N: Hey, so here is the chapter at long last, two reasons it's a little late. One had to think of what exactly I was going to do with Okamimon's mind torture with everyone, I know it's kind of lame, that's all I got. Two, stupid computer died on me, thankfully I got it back. Enjoy ^^**


	22. Crest of compassion

**A/N: Hey everyone, here is the next chapter. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves and White Hunter for their reviews. Hope everyone enjoys this next chapter. This uses the element from the show, but with my add ins and twists, if you even call them twists lol. I don't own Bugs Bunny either.**

**Chapter 22**

**Crest of Compassion**

Monologue: Kiva

"I can't believe how much of a close call we gotten into. Puppymon had slide digivolved into Okamimon while he tried to save us. Was the cause of the evolution my fault? He proved to be a very dangerous digimon I don't tend on dealing with him any time soon. I just hope that Pupmon doesn't harbour any guilt with me."

The group had left the sanctuary of the forest and cool weather to be back to wandering through the desert. It had only been a day and a half of wandering and the heat was already getting to them again. Pupmon and Kiva were separated (not intentionally, more of Pupmon's choosing and he refused to have Kiva near him thinking that she hated him for what he did.)

"Kiva, how are you holding up?" Yumi asked concerned.

**Kiva: I'm fine, but I'm worried about Puppymon, he refuses to talk to me through our bond, he doesn't want to have any contact with me whatsoever.**

"Give it time. You two will forgive and forget some time soon, just don't rush it," Victoria responded.

**Kiva: Maybe.**

Kiva let out a sigh as she continued her way through the desert with the rest of them. It had been a day and a half since leaving the comfort of the field with the protection of the trees and the unpredictable weather. Now they were back in the sand region out in the open for any surprise attacks from Etemon.

~Flashback~

The group headed into a nearby forest taking cover from the ongoing rain. It was late at night and everyone was exhausted. Pupmon was finally resting peacefully in Kiva's arms. With his sleeping state, everyone let out a sigh of relief no longer worrying about tiptoeing around mentioning Okamimon to Kiva.

After a temporary camp was set up, the group sat down by the fire staring into the flames. There were still a lot of questions running through everyone's minds (excluding the triplets and Yukito), how could Kiva easily forgive Pupmon and not be overly affected by all the turmoil.

Along with everyone filled with unanswered questions, there seemed to be some tension between Robert and Yukito as well. Yukito was sitting next to the triplets and Robert was by James and Tora away from Yukito. The two of them were not talking to each other.

"Okay, first thing is first. What exactly was going on back there?" James asked referring to what Victoria said to Mark.

"Oh you mean the whole thing about Okamimon surfacing everything and it not being a big deal to me? Well let me tell you something, it doesn't matter. We have all been hiding in this fear of our past and we can't accept it. He brought it up to test us; I understand that it was harder for Kiva and Yumi because they had a tough time growing up. I have come in terms of not staying in the same place for so long. I have had the worse foster parents over the years. Some of them didn't know exactly how to handle me when I got to my wild stage. I am proud that Akima and Yamato adopted me and can accept me for me. What's all of your excuses?" Victoria asked not afraid to open up about her problems.

"How can you say that Kiva and Yumi had it worse than the rest of us? We have all had equal shares of tough time," Mark said.

"Then why not share your problems with us? Everything is out in the open; you all think you've had it worse? Then tell us, why are you hiding it from us?" Yumi snapped.

"Why would I tell **you** any of **my** problems? It's not like you can stand me anyway," Mark replied getting all in a huff.

"What is your deal? You were the one to bring it up to the rest of us that Kiva and I aren't the only ones to have a tough life. So let's hear it, what is so horrible about your past?" Yumi insisted not giving up now.

Mark turned his head away from Yumi avoiding the questions all together. He was nothing like a stubborn child.

"Anyone else want to share their problems?"

"Why are you trying to sound like a therapist? Are you trying to analyze our problems?" asked James.

"Oh gods I knew those two years will come back to haunt me," Yumi groaned smacking her head.

"You actually were in therapy?"

"Unfortunately, but I wasted so much money just sitting there and not talking. Hah, my mom got pissed for the fact that she spent all of that money to all go to waste," laughed Yumi darkly.

"Not a therapist fan?"

"Pht, no. I mentally threw daggers at her every time she desperately tried to ask me questions. When she asked me what's on my mind I drew pictures of her lying in a pool of blood dead. Knives sticking out of her. Yes, I was a very disturbed child. I sort of blamed it on the problem of dad not being in my life and leaving me alone with her and her many boyfriends, it was the only I acted out. My therapist started to put the pieces together though, seeing as my family is a broken one," scoffed Yumi shrugging her shoulder.

"Is it true what Okamimon said back there that your step-father beat you?" asked James.

Yumi took in a deep breath, it was memories she prefer to bury deep down inside and burn it. She still had scars covering her body from the last round of attack.

"Yeah, unfortunately. The ticalos is bent on making people suffer. He is still around, so I've learned to dodge him every chance I get," confessed Yumi bitterly.

"What does ticalos mean?" asked Kisho.

"Bastard in Romania."

"You're Romanian?" asked Kisho, James, and Tora surprised.

"My father's Romanian, I'm half. It's one way I've learned to stay out of trouble. Just swear in different languages."

"Kiva, I'm curious to know. What happened back there with you and Okamimon? What was he talking to you about?" Kisho asked now full of curiosity.

Kiva didn't budge; she was too distracted in the flames to have heard him. She had what Yumi was saying about what happened to her in her head. She had more guts than she did to tell the others her darkest secrets. In a way, it was none of their business to know what was going on in her private life. She needed to deal with the problems with her mom herself.

As she thought more about the question, the more the memory came up of her father dying, something that replayed in her head over and over again. She was still in the blame game for the whole ordeal. She never realized how many times she could actually do a what if scenario in her head.

Looking down, she looked at the black fur belonging to Pupmon warming by the fire. She realized even more how grateful she truly was to have him. No matter what horrible things he had done.

Kiva faced Yumi and Victoria moving her hands in her quick fashion. She stopped every now and again making sure they understood.

"She says that Okamimon kept telling her that is was her fault that her father died. It was in her selfishness that he is no longer here in the land of the living. Victoria is right, all Okamimon was doing was digging out our past to show us that we can learn from them and accept it and move on," Yumi explained.

"Are you sure Kiva?" asked Victoria reading her friend's sign language. Something seemed to bother her back telling everyone that part of her secret. Kiva nodded her head causing Victoria to sigh. "She says that she never forgave herself for her loss, she constantly blamed everything on herself, and it didn't help either that her mom reminded her every single day."

Kiva was careful not to reveal the beatings she got from her mother. She didn't want them to give her pity that was something that she did not need. She still felt numb though from the whole experience.

As everyone started talking about different things in general, Kiva took out the dagger to take a better look at it. The blade was a good eight inch steel, the handle itself was made of pewter with a wolf's head at the end with a flora print etched into the handle and blade. This would definitely come in handy later on.

"Tora there's a few things I have to ask you. This has been bugging me for the last little while. What is your deal with protecting Okamimon?"

Kiva shot her a dirty look telling her that it was none of her business. She grasped the dagger in her hand as anger rose through her. She wanted to so bad to knock some sense into the girl. Okamimon was Puppymon's Ultimate form, and still her partner. She was not about to leave him alone.

"I don't get it, you were the one that was getting tortured back there and all you could do was stand there and take it. Why didn't you do something to stop it? If he truly was your partner he would have backed off. It probably would have been better to just leave him trapped underneath those rocks."

Now Yumi and Victoria shot her dirty looks telling to shut up if she knew what was best for her. This could only end in tears, and Tora would be the one crying.

"Listen to me you little half wit. What I do is none of your concern. Puppymon is my partner and I will stand by him for as long as I can. For you to tell me off like that indicates that you are inadequate of caring for your own digimon's well being. Puppymon has risked his life time and time again for me, just because of one screw up is no different. So unless you want to lose your life right now, I suggest you keep your mouth shut!" Yumi translated.

Tora shut her mouth quickly terrified to utter another word. She did not want to style another black eye at this time. Kiva went back to staring into the flames and rotating the dagger back and forth unconsciously, she kept it out of sight not to arouse suspicion.

The next morning, the rain finally stopped, leaving a bright world in its wake. Everyone seemed to be a little more alive than they did the night before. Now their destination was clear, travel to the end of the forest and take whatever head on.

Unfortunately, what was past the forest was once again the desert. They couldn't believe their eyes at the sight. They all thought they were finished with it.

~End flashback~

"Yumi!" called Tora moments later. "Here, you should have this back, I don't need it." Tora handed Yumi her black sweater already folded.

"Thanks," Yumi mumbled taking back the sweater.

"Oh god, I miss the cool weather, wandering through the shaded trees. Why did we have to head back to the desert?" Lalamon complained resting on top of Tora's shoulder.

"Oh, don't lean on me. You'll make me hotter than what I am right now."

"Penguinmon, how are you holding up?" asked Yukito concerned seeing his digimon almost dragging himself through the sand.

"Water! Water!" came the pitiful cries of a tired Penguinmon.

"We need to rest, please. I can't go on any longer," James said dragging his feet.

"There's no place to rest, too hot to sit on the sand, and no shade for miles," Mark replied shielding his eyes from the sun as he tilted his head up a little.

Victoria seemed to be dragging her feet as well, like she had done when they first arrived in the digiworld. Her arms and legs were becoming weak from the dehydration.

"Victoria, are you okay?" Renamon asked concerned.

"I'm doing great! Everything's spinning!" her voice once again seemed to have changed again. A pink line appeared under her eyes stretching across her nose. She was getting burnt, and that normally meant one thing.

"Okay, you are getting off your feet for a while," Renamon insisted.

"But I don't want to fox lady."

"Yumi…" Renamon called picking Victoria off the ground and resting her on her back. "Right here. This heat is going to fry all our brains. Here's one for you and her. Just make sure she actually gets that down."

Renamon took both water bottles from Yumi as she easily balanced Victoria on her back. "Vicky, take the water."

"Yumi, you are a life saver," gasped James seeing Yumi take out water from her bag and giving it to Kiva. Yumi wasn't going to be rude, they needed to get hydrated as soon as possible, and since she was the only one to carry water bottles, she knew this was the right decision.

Yumi headed over to the others who all stopped for the time being to let their legs relax for a short amount of time. On each water bottle had someone's name on it, human and digimon alike.

"Monogram," Tora said impressed.

"Thank you," Kisho called out.

Yumi looked back at an exhausted Pupmon who could barely stand much longer let alone walk. She too out another water bottle from her back of mystery. She was about to go over to him until Kiva came to her side.

**Kiva: Let me give it to him, it'll give me a chance to talk to him.**

"Good luck."

Kiva took the water bottle from Yumi's hand belonging to Pupmon. She walked passed the others who now sat of the sand uncaring any more about the heat.

'_Here Pupmon,'_ Kiva said handing him the water bottle.

'_I don't want it.'_

'_Nonsense, stop being stubborn, you are close to passing out!'_

'_Who is it from?'_ Pupmon asked taking the bottle. He wasn't even looking at Kiva.

'_Who else? Yumi! She's concerned about you.'_

'_I doubt that. She hates me, why else didn't she give this to me herself?'_

'_Pupmon, she's just as concerned about you as I am. The only reason I'm giving you the water bottle and not her is because I want to know just exactly what is going on.'_

'_Just leave me alone. I don't need your pity.'_

'_Why are you being so stubborn?! I am you partner!'_ Kiva demanded.

'_You're just feeling sorry for me.'_

'_Fine! You know what? Wallow in your self-pity for as long as you like, I don't care.'_ Kiva stormed off getting frustrated with Pupmon's attitude.

"How did it go?" asked Yumi also sitting on the sand.

**Kiva: I don't understand why he's being so stubborn.**

"He reminds me of someone else I know who's stubborn. Just give it time, he'll come around."

"We need shade, lots and lots of shade!" Lalamon said.

"Is she still with us?" James asked worried.

"Doubt it. Her mind has left the world," Tora responded trying to get some water into Lalamon.

"Hey, does anyone else hear that?" asked Yumi after several minutes.

"Hear what?" everyone asked standing up as they listened to what Yumi was hearing.

In the distance a loud whistle went off from what seemed to be a--

"A ship?" questioned Yukito and Robert. A fifty two foot ship came toward them. Its width seemed to be very wide. The girls' jaws dropped open seeing the gorgeous ship.

"Looks like a cruise ship to be exact," Mark said.

"How lovely," Tora squealed realizing that they could possibly be out of the heat.

"Look out, I don't think it wants to stop!" shouted Yumi running over to Tora and pulling her out of the way.

As everyone got out of the ships way, it came to a stop right in front of them making everyone look at it in question.

"Ahoy there!" a Numemon, wearing a sailors outfit, called from the rail.

"Numemon!" cried out Yumi, Victoria and Yukito in disgust.

"Hey dude, do you think you could allow us on board to freshen up?" Yumi called.

"Ugh…" Numemon said taken aback by Yumi's appearance. The blood that she received from Okamimon still stained her clothes and skin, the humidity was not helping it settle.

"Perhaps this needs more of a girly girl touch. Hey there big boy! Your ship looks so inviting! How about letting us on board so that we could check it out?" Tora said putting on her sweet face that worked on her parents all the time. The Numemon seemed to fall for the trick instantly. Immediately, the stairs came down giving them access to the ship.

"Look at you miss hot shot," Yumi said impressed.

"Hey, at least it got us on board."

The children and digimon ran up the stairs and headed right into the ships interior. The floors were carpeted in rich red and gold colours with a sunset orange and yellow wall. The trimmings were a gold colour, from the banister to the columns.

After running down two sets of stairs, the group came to a large open dining room with round tables or square ones around the room with white silk linen clothes. It looked very elegant in the dining room.

"This looks incredible," Yumi gasped in awe. Although not her style, it still looked gorgeous.

"Let's go check out our rooms!" Tora insisted running back down the hall toward the rooms, Lalamon in her arms; they were followed by Yumi, Victoria, Renamon, Kiva and a very reluctant Pupmon.

Turning the corners in the main corridor, the girls headed down a long corridor and headed to a door near the middle of the hall. Tora opened the door revealing a large room with a queen size bed near the end of the room by an arch way leading into a sitting room with lavender coloured chairs and sofa. A door by the sitting room lead to another room that was half the size. Another door in near the bed lead to a large bathroom.

The walls were a soft gold colour, almost a stone tile colour, the bed sheets were a light brown colour with a gold headboard. The carpet was the same lavender colour as the sofa.

The girls jaws dropped opened at the sight of the room. It was gorgeous, Tora seemed to be more in love with the room then she seemed to be about the rest of the ship. Kiva looked around like she didn't really care so much about the room, all she saw it as was just a place they could rest and freshen up.

"Gorgeous," Victoria breathed.

"We can definitely spend hours just pampering ourselves," squealed Tora.

"Ugh, for once I agree with you. We are getting sweaty, we're covered in sand and are bloody," Yumi said surveying her bloody shirt.

"Well at least we can finally take a hot shower," Victoria said pulling at her clingy shirt.

"Oh freshness here I come," sighed Yumi heading toward the bathroom taking out her ponytail and peeling all her article of clothing off one piece at a time. Behind her was her fishnet gloves, her red and black top, boots and skirt.

Tora and Victoria were right behind her, a trail of clothing and bags were left in their wake as they headed toward the bathroom. The girls couldn't believe their eyes at the sight of the bathroom. The walls were a grey stone colour, the floor was marble. The counter was large marble granite with a ceramic sink. The three stared in shock for a moment at the sight, this was made for royalty. The three didn't care about being together, just as long as they were clean in the end. Kiva was the only one to go into the other room to shower. Pupmon reluctantly followed after her no longer able to ignore her callouts.

Down in the dining room Mark, Kisho, James, Gaomon, Labramon and Bearmon stood before a large table full of food. The three boys stood there salivating at the spread before them.

"That is a lot of food," commented Bearmon trying his hardest not to drool so much.

"It smells so good," Gaomon replied taking a deep breath in.

"I say we eat some now and take the rest with us for later," suggested Kisho.

"Better idea, I say we eat it now," Mark replied his eyes growing wider ready to dive into the platter.

"What happens if it's just an illusion like last time?" asked James.

"Do you truly think it's fake? Dude, come on don't be such a downer here. There is food!"

Kisho, Labramon, Gaomon and Bearmon all stared hungrily at the buffet waiting to see who would make the first move. James couldn't help but salivate the longer they waited.

"Screw it, let's dive in. The others would never have to know. To hell if it is fake," James said hearing his stomach growl the loudest.

Within seconds, the boys and their digimon dived for the food scarfing it down like there was no tomorrow.

Up on the deck by the pool in only their shorts, Robert and Yukito were relaxing on top of a two foam pool floats, Robert lying on his stomach white Yukito lay on his back. Penguinmon floated on his back enjoying the cool water. As for Tentomon, he rested on one of the folding chairs watching the boys, uncaring about joining him.

On top of the round table beside Tentomon were the boys crest, digivices and folded shirts.

"Robert, do you think that our relationship can truly last?" Yukito asked concerned turning his head to face Robert who seemed to have disappeared into his own world.

Silence filled the air for some time, which worried Yukito that he was getting completely ignored. Penguinmon looked over at his partner worried filled his eyes as he faced a daydreaming Robert.

"Robert? Did I do something wrong?" Yukito asked.

"Huh? Wrong? Yukito, of course not. Why do you think that?" Robert asked facing Yukito at last.

"I just feel that our relationship is starting to slip, like the spark is no longer there," Yukito confessed.

"Don't be ridiculous, it is still as strong as ever. You know that no one can split us apart," replied Robert smiling a little, paddling close to Yukito who flipped over on to his stomach.

"Then why do I feel like we're starting to split apart? Don't tell me you haven't seen it. I've seen the looks you give when we're hanging with Yumi, Victoria and Kiva. Are you worried that they're coming between us?"

"A little. I don't mean to be like that, I just feel left out some times. I know that none of them will ever take you away from me, but you've stopped paying attention to me, especially when I need you most."

"Robert, look at me. I apologize dearly for me not being there. You're not the only one that feels left out though. There have been times when I'm worried that I have done something wrong for you to hate me or leave me. I know that we've been close for the last little while, but I feel that you are expecting more from me."

Robert looked at Yukito with sad eyes, neither one had truly discussed fully what their lives have been through. After what Okamimon had said about the two, they had been thinking more on it, and truly rethinking everything. Both were worried about their relationship failing, but worse was the fact that Yukito truly thought that Robert didn't want to be with him any more. Robert on the other hand seriously thought that they were becoming too different.

"Listen to me, I love you with all me heart. You have done nothing wrong. How could I seriously hate you? I would never leave you. The only reason I would leave is if you asked me too."

"I love you too. I guess with all the stress we've never focused on the main thing. We should never have listened to Okamimon in the first place."

Back in the second room, Kiva stood in the shower allowing the warm to cascade over her body. Her scars that she had for years were clearly shown on her body. She didn't care about that; all she cared about was getting cleaned.

Pupmon sat in the door way staring at all the mist that filled the room, it was difficult to see Kiva in all the mist, but that was fine with him, he rather not see her at the time being.

'_Pupmon, I don't understand why you are still acting like a little baby, get over this already!'_ Kiva said still overly annoyed with the whole fact that Pupmon still thought he was a danger to all those around him.

'_Kiva, that's just it, you don't understand. You don't realize just how dangerous I can become. I hurt all of you as Okamimon and I will never forgive myself for that. You were the main one that I hurt, and I don't expect you to forgive me. I have done horrible things; I should not even be near you!'_

'_Puppymon, I don't care what you did, I agree with what Victoria said. You just surfaced things that we've hidden, things that we all needed to remember, even if something's should never have been revealed, but we need them out in the open. We need to be more accepting of them. Puppymon you know I forgive you, I don't care about the close calls, you are my partner and nothing is going to change that.'_

'_Then you are a fool for even saving me. Tora was right, maybe you should have left me in the rocks.'_

'_Whoa, you're going to agree with her? Puppymon, you don't deserve that. Tora doesn't know what she is talking about. You are meant to be at my side.'_

Pupmon just turned his head away from his partner not responding to the question. No matter what she said, he would never truly believe it.

Kiva let out a silent groan as she continued to wash her body leaving the conversation where it was for now.

In the other room, Yumi was facing the mirror combing through her now dry hair. She was only in her black bra with the towel wrapped around her waist. She had her make-up kit opened in front of her revealing her white foundation, grey eyeliner, lipstick and eye shadow. She might not have been the type to worry about her appearance, but she preferred having her make-up on.

Victoria was beside her in the same style as Yumi, bra only with her towel only on. Her hair was pulled back in a light ponytail allowing her to put on her make-up without getting it in her hair.

As for Tora, she was still in the shower putting moisturizer on her face trying to liven herself up a little more.

"What do you think the boys are up to?" asked Tora.

"Knowing James, pigging out in the dinning room. Fifty-fifty chance Robert and Yukito are soaking in the pool."

"Where did Kiva disappear to?"

"The other room. She doesn't like people seeing her exposed skin."

Renamon and Lalamon were still lounging in the cabin waiting for their partners to finish up so they could go check out the rest of the ship.

Outside high above the pool was a middle aged man with brown hair, moustache and beard looking through binoculars. He wore a blue coat over top a white shirt. He appeared to be the captain of the cruise ship.

"Aha! I see the couple has taken the bait! Time for me to get started! They'll never forget this cruise!" the man declared lowering the binoculars. In seconds, the captain's body began to shake as everything blew up and a large chicken like digimon appeared on the railing.

"I am Cockatrimon! My cock-a-doodle-doo will blow out your eardrums! Mess with me and you'll be pecked into surrender!" Cockatrimon analyzed.

Cockatrimon turned back to face the inside cabin and headed over to the computer. "Etemon will reward me greatly when he finds out I've trapped the digidestined on my ship!" Cockatrimon hit a button trying to connect with Etemon.

Farther away in the desert an angry Etemon stood in front of the computer watching his Gazimon try to reconnect his system. Although a month had passed, he finally defrosted from his trip to the northern sector. He vowed that he would get his revenge against the Vikemon.

"Step it up, fools! I'm getting very impatient here! Know what I mean? If my network is off-line, everybody crashes! Let me tell you why. 'Cause I'm Etemon! You wanna make something of it?" Etemon said annoyed. The three Gazimon stopped their work and bowed before him.

"No way!" the Gazimon replied.

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm the coolest cat there is and if you don't watch out I'm gonna getcha. 'til you scream and shout. 'cause I'm the hippest digimon in town."

The Gazimon were dancing along with Etemon's singing completely ignoring their work. Etemon finally realizing what was going on smacked all three over the head.

"Just who gave you permission to dance?" All three Gazimon cowered in front of him. "Now, y'all get back to work before I get myself upset again! Yeah!"

All three Gazimon immediately got back to work getting the network set up not wanting to get on Etemon's bad side again.

Back on the ship inside the cabin, Cockatrimon stared at the static screen instead of the map to where Etemon should be.

"Something's wrong. Etemon's network appears to be down. Aw, who needs him? I'll have the pleasure of plastering their feathers all by myself! Cocka! Cocka! Cocka! Cocka! It's amazing how my brain surpasses my good looks," Cockatrimon gloated. He opened a little door to an intercom connecting to the Numemon down in the lower section of the ship. "Now hear this. I have an important message. Listen up! I'll give you Numemon an extra serving of dry bread and I'll throw in some jelly if you capture those kids!"

The Numemon became very thrilled at the thought of extra serving of food. None of them wasted any time going after the three groups.

A group of Numemon headed over to the pool where Yukito and Robert continued to rest of their pool rafter not paying attention to anything around them. Without warning, two nets came flying at the boys trapping them. Three Numemon held on to the nets each.

"No! Get this off!" Yukito yelped struggling underneath the net.

"Yukito!" Penguinmon called horrified.

"Let them go!" demanded Tentomon hovering in the air.

"Hey, do you Numemon have something wrong with you? Let us go!" Robert yelled.

Two other Numemon were ready to throw another net over top of Penguinmon from the side of the pool. Penguinmon turned just in time to see the net land on top of him.

"That's it! Ice prism!" The ice shards cut through the net allowing him to escape and land on the deck looking furiously at the Numemon before him.

Two other Numemon began to advance on the table where the crest lay unprotected. Tentomon hovered over top watching them with an intent eye. "Don't even think about touching those!" Tentomon warned. "Super shocker!"

The Numemon scrambled away seeing the annoyed digimon. The electricity bypassed the Numemon heading straight for Cockatrimon. He easily swiped the attack away like it was nothing.

"Who is that?"

"That bad egg is Cockatrimon!" Penguinmon said.

"Tetra fire!" shouted Cockatrimon as green lights appeared.

"Arg!" Tentomon and Penguinmon yelled before being turned into stone.

"No! Tentomon!"

"Penguinmon! How dare you?!"

"Look, they left me a present!" Cockatrimon picked up the crests with his feathers.

"Give those back!"

"You're stuck without these! But I wouldn't worry. Now you've got yourself a couple of nice Digimon garden ornaments!" laughed Cockatrimon.

He ran down the deck into the corridors swinging the crests around in a small victory. His next mission was to find the other boys then he would deal with the girls. He could smell victory approaching as he slid down the banister toward the dining room.

Down in the dining room, the three boys sat on the chairs after enjoying the fest. Their stomachs were near bursting with food, nothing could get better than this.

"Their down here!" called a Numemon from the doorway.

"Uh oh, this can't be a good sign," James commented.

"That's a lot of Numemon," Kisho said.

Numemon came charging in ready to attack thinking they had the upper had on things. But they were sadly mistaken. Bearmon, Gaomon and Labramon all went on the defence to protect their partners.

"Double punch!"

"Retrieve bark!"

"Bear claw!"

The attacks seemed to be effective enough. The Numemon were not expecting the digimon to be so strong and mentally aware. The food truly came in hand for the digidestined digimon.

Cockatrimon skidded to a halt outside the dining room looking amused at the three unexpected digimon.

"It's your turn now!" Cockatrimon said. "Tetra fire!"

"No!" screamed the digimon who were turned to stone.

"Oh no!"

"I can't believe they've been turned into rock."

"Labramon."

"Capture them!" ordered Cockatrimon to the Numemon.

The Numemon headed over to the children who were desperately trying to get away. The children forgot just how fast the Numemon could travel.

They were taken on deck to the pool where Yukito and Robert were already bound in a large net completely out of it as the sun came beating down on them.

"Tie them up; I'm off the get those girls."

Renamon and Lalamon decided to join the girls in the bathroom after some time as voices sounded out in the hallway. The two digimon didn't want to raise an alarm to the girls afraid of what to potentially happen.

Yumi now sat on the counter putting on her boots. She wore a ark red midriff tank top with thin black horizontal lines running down the shirt with black lace at the bottom. The sleeves were off the shoulder starting a few inches down; lace was also on the top and bottom of the sleeves. She wore fingerless gloves with black string tied in a bow at the top of the gloves and hung loosely. The skirt was black with tiered red pleated frill fabric underneath.

Victoria on the hand was stashing her old clothes into her bag ready to leave. She wore black tank top with a strip of red in the middle of the shirt designed like a corset. The skirt was a simple dark grey mermaid style cut with a slit reaching her knee. Underneath the skirt was dark grey tights blending into the skirt. On her feet was mid calf black boots. Everything seemed to be simple with her.

Tora was staring in the mirror fixing her hair back into a half ponytail. This time she kept the ponytail out instead of pulling it into a bun. She wore dark blue jeans with silver sequences rising up the out of the pant legs. Her top was a black thin strap midriff tank top with a large pink heart in the middle of the shirt with three little ones on the side.

"Renamon, Lalamon, you two finally decided to join us," Victoria said sarcastically.

"I think we might have company, you might want to hurry it up," Renamon replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"Where are the rest of the children?" demanded Cockatrimon, somewhere outside the rooms.

The Numemon who were on their way to find them shrugged their shoulders.

"Well find them!"

In the other room, Kiva had slipped into a clean pair of clothes after drying off. The pants were black with chains dangling on the side. A cross attached to one of them. The shirt was a form fitting top with fish net style sleeves, with a v-neck and print of the front. She wasn't too worried about applying her make-up on like the others. Her complexion was pale enough without the extra foundation.

Pupmon sat at the door way watching his partner. They had their conversation about the whole mishap with Okamimon but it still didn't change Pupmon's attitude toward it.

'_I don't know why you won't get over this. I already told you I forgive you. I think over three dozen times already. There is nothing to worry about.'_

'_Kiva, I've told you, I could ultimately hurt you and the others if I ever digivolve back into him.'_

'_Pupmon, you could never hurt us. We have this bond that refrains you from hurting me.'_

'_I don't care; I don't want to take the risk.'_

'_I can't believe you. You still think I'm furious with you,'_ Kiva shot back facing him.

Pupmon didn't say anything to the comment. He wanted to leave the conversation where it was.

"Kiva, we need to go. We have trouble," Yumi said poking her head through the door.

**Kiva: What is it?**

"We're not sure, but danger is definitely here."

Kiva grabbed her back and dashed out of the room with Pupmon at her heels. Victoria, Tora and Lalamon seemed to be getting anxious about waiting any longer.

"Come one, it's not safe here."

Renamon opened the door to the corridor to see a group of Numemon talking to Cockatrimon on one side and another bunch coming down the other end. She slammed the door shut and faced the others with her back pressed against the door.

"Not that way. Numemon are out there. The window, go through the window."

The girls turned back to the bathroom where a medium side window was inside the shower. Not wasting any more time, the girls dashed over to it pulling on it willing it to slide open.

"Stupid thing won't budge!"

"Let me try," Renamon insisted using all her strength to pull in a side. The window easily slide open giving the girls access to the outside.

"Go!" Yumi ordered.

Lalamon easily floated out the window, followed by Tora lifting herself on the ledge and swinging her body over the ledge. The others followed suit wanting nothing more than to get to safety.

"Ah! You little chickadees think you're **so** smart! You won't get away that easily!" Cockatrimon boomed staring out the window.

The girls ran down the corridor not looking back. Their breaths were getting heavy with each step they took. There was no place they could go to get to safety. But first thing was first, they needed to find the guys and get out of there. Up ahead of them, Cockatrimon ran in front of them blocking their escape route.

"Holy shit!" shrieked the girls seeing him.

"Aha!"

"That's Cockatrimon!" Renamon, Lalamon and Pupmon said in unison.

"He seriously looks like the rooster from Bugs bunny," Tora said.

"He's bad news," Lalamon said.

"Hey, omelette-head over there has Robert and Yukito's tags!" Victoria said.

"I ran into a couple of your friends by the pool. But don't get your heads in a spin. They're just drying off! Nothing like little sun baked faces! Burnt to a crisp with curly crunch spuds and lots of coleslaw!"

"Where are the digimon?" demanded Renamon furiously.

"Don't you worry about those guys. Confidentially I find them to be a little bit on the stiff side, but that just happens to be my personal opinion."

"Your opinion sucks!" Tora and Lalamon said.

"Now you're about to meet the same **fate**!" Cockatrimon laughed.

"You've cackled once too often! Diamond storm!"

"Lala screw!"

Pupmon didn't bother to help the group, he was still stuck in his denial that nothing around him mattered.

"Tetra fire!"

Kiva's eyes widened as she grabbed hold of Pupmon and pulled him away just as the attack hit the ground.

Everyone retreated back down the deck getting away from Cockatrimon. He still stood there confused and angry.

"Come back you little chickens."

"He has a nerve to call us chickens," Yumi said.

"Come back!"

The girls made their way to the stern and to a dead-end. They were trapped between a rock and a hard place.

"Shit, we're trapped. Any plans?"

"I have one, for you to walk the plank!"

"Renamon! Let's show him what you're made of!"

"You know it. Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Hey no fair."

"Life isn't fair!"

"Dragon wheel!"

Cockatrimon jumped out of the way just as the flames were about to hit him. He was in no mood to get burnt.

"Lalamon, let's teach him a lesson."

"Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Sunshine beam!"

Cockatrimon dived to the ground avoiding the beam all together. He accidentally dropped the crests on the deck as he fell.

"Feather cutter!" Cockatrimon shouted throwing the crest on his head toward the two digimon. Kyubimon and Sunflowmon jumped into the air like it was nothing.

'_Pupmon, digivolve and help them!'_

'_Why bother, they don't need me!'_

'_Pupmon, do as I say!'_

'_No!'_

"Tetra fire!"

The attack him Pupmon giving him no chance to escape. Kiva was in shock at her digimon being turned into stone.

"That's it. Hurting our friend is the final straw!"

"Sunshine beam!"

"Dragon wheel!"

Both solar beam and fire wheel headed straight for Cockatrimon sending him flying. The two were no longer taking it easy on the overgrown chicken. They wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Agh!"

Cockatrimon went hurtling into the sky toward the smoke shack. The girls looked impressed at their digimon's attack toward Cockatrimon, Yumi and Victoria holding on to Yukito and Robert's crest. Kiva was kneeling in front of the still stone statue of Pupmon.

"Kiva, come on we have to move!" Yumi said trying to pull Kiva up.

Kiva swatted her away not wanting to leave Pupmon's side. Tora held Lalamon in her arms side stepping to the sides wanting to get away. Victoria and Renamon stood in disbelief at Kiva's refusal to move.

'_Pupmon, come back to me! I don't want to lose you!'_ Kiva called out.

Around the ship, the stone digimon soon came free from the attack staring in wonder at their surroundings with the missing Numemon and partners.

Outside on the deck by the pool, Penguinmon and Tentomon were able to free the boys from the net and were reunited with their digimon.

"Where are the girls?" asked Robert.

"Who knows, perhaps in the bathroom, I'm sure Tora would be," Tentomon answered.

Back at the stern, Kiva was still trying her hardest to break Pupmon free from his prison.

'_Damn it Pupmon! Come back!'_

After a minute or so a bright light shone around the statue of Pupmon. It was uncertain if he was digivolving or breaking free.

"What's going on?" Lalamon asked.

"I don't know but I don't want to stick around to see the end result!" Yumi said pulling Kiva's arm dragging her away from the glowing statue.

In seconds, shards of rock flew off a newly digivolved Puppymon. He shook off the rubble looking confused.

'_Happy to have you back.'_

'_I guess,'_ was Puppymon's only response.

Kiva let out a silent groan ready to dive back into another heated argument with her digimon, until Renamon stepped in between the two.

"Now's not the time, we need to find the others and get the hell off this ship!"

The girls ran down the deck in hopefully the right direction of their friends. With Cockatrimon out of the way, they needed to separate themselves from the ship as far away as possible.

"We're outta here!" cried the many voices of Numemon throwing off their sailor outfits as the plank descended from the ship on the left side.

"I agree with sludge breath, let's get out of here!" Yukito said.

"Well that annoying overly stuffed chicken has been fried up and I believe these belong to you two," Yumi said a moment later appearing behind the boys holding the tags in her hand.

"Thank you so much, let's move people."

The kids ran down the ramp as fast as they could into the blistering hot desert, only good thing with the girls, they were able to wash up and feel fresh.

"Oh, my aching head! You may have ruffled my tail feathers, but I can still-" Cockatrimon tried to crow but all that came out was a rasping noise. "Okay, so maybe I lost a little bit of my doodle, but I am not finished yet! Agh!" Cockatrimon yelped falling back inside.

The desert was not a welcoming site to the group, the heat slowly got to them again and mirages were getting the better of them.

"I loath the heat, does someone have a portable fan on them?" asked Tora.

"Ugh!"

After a moment, something seemed to catch Puppymon, Renamon, Labramon and Gaomon's attention. With their sudden stop and heads perking up the kids soon realized something was wrong.

"What are you hearing?" Yukito asked.

"You don't suppose?" Gaomon said.

A loud whistle sounded behind them forcing everyone to turn around to see the ship actually chase them with a very crazed Cockatrimon right behind them.

"This is another reason I gate deserts!" screamed Yumi forcing her legs to move.

The gang ran through the desert in search of something to hide behind.

"Oh god, do you suppose that could be a mirage?" Tora called pointing toward a cactus in front of them.

"Do you want to take that risk?" Victoria asked.

"Get on the other side!" commanded Renamon.

The group ran around the cactus hiding behind it thinking it was going to protect them. No one felt safe as they waited for their end to come. The whistle sounded again as it made contact with the cactus bending over the children, gravity was not about to allow the ship to win. Like a spring, the cactus sprung back sending the ship and Cockatrimon into the air.

"Hey! I can fly! I can fly! Wait! I can't fly!"

The cord attaching the ship and the dark network split in half causing the ship to explode up in the air.

"Thank the gods that's over," Yumi muttered.

Just as Yumi said that, a pink flower on the cactus began to bloom, revealing something side. No one at first could see the image as it floated down to the earth.

"Do you think it's a crest?" Kisho asked.

"It has to be! What else do you suppose it is?" Tora answered.

Like a magnet, Tora's tag began to float up into the air awaiting the arrival of the new crest. The image was two red halves connected together with two squiggly like lines in each halves. It easily slipped into Tora's tag like it was nothing.

"It's the crest of compassion. Me, compassion? I don't even deserve this. Truly if it is the only way to help Lalamon, I won't let it out of my sight."

The triplets rolled their eyes as the group trudged through the desert, their next adventure was out there somewhere, and they were going to find it.

**A/N: Hey, new chapter. Hope everyone enjoys it. I just hope I did justice on this chapter. Next chapter should be up within the week. **


	23. A fight for the crest of Ambition

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the wolves and White Hunter for their comments, greatly appreciated. Can Puppymon and Kiva finally make up? Or will their arguments continue? That's a question that's on everyone's mind in this chapter. Read to find out. So there's no confusion for the double up digimon (Kotemon, Grademon, Ryudamon and Knightmon), all of them have a particular colour on them and there is no particular ranking either. I've also changed a few things with Kiva, mainly the fact that she's opening up a little more, kind of wanted to show her in a new light with the Kotemon. She can sense a strong bond with her. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter as well. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves for coming up with the idea.**

**Chapter 23**

**A fight for the crest of Ambition**

The heat didn't ease up any as the group continued their journey; it felt like days for them, even though it had only been hours. So far they were lucky enough not to encounter Etemon.

"Endless sands, endless heat. Can this get any worse?" complained James.

"We don't need to hear your moaning and groaning. It's only been a couple of hours since we left the ship. Yes it's hot, yes it's been a long day, but please; don't start with this bull shit!" Yumi said wiping sweat from her forehead.

Puppymon was still in the back of the group, still refusing to talk to Kiva. Kiva was still trying to get his attention and actually have him talk to her, she refused to give up.

'_Puppymon, you can't ignore me forever you know, you have to say something sooner or later.'_

There was nothing, which was expected from him. Kiva knew he was listening to her, although he didn't want to respond, he still had to listen.

'_Seriously, you need to stop being stubborn about all of this. You have wallowed in self-pity for long enough. Will you just let it go?'_

'_How could I ever let it go? I did all those horrible things and you act like it is nothing at all,'_ Puppymon snapped finally giving in for the time being.

'_Because it is nothing! The only reason why you won't leave it alone is because you won't or can't forgive yourself!'_

'_No it's not!'_

Yumi and Victoria could see Kiva was getting infuriated all of a sudden. With no way of reading thoughts, the two girls couldn't figure what truly was going on. Her facial expression was proof enough that she must have been talking to Puppymon or screaming at him.

"Kiva, what's going on?" asked Yumi.

**Kiva: Puppymon. He is not listening to reason.**

"What's he saying to you?"

**Kiva: The usual. I van never forgive myself, I have done horrible things. He sounds like such a drama queen.**

'_Are you not hearing this? Victoria and Yumi are worried about you!'_ Kiva snapped after Puppymon made a comment.

'_I doubt it!'_

Puppymon still believed that Victoria and Yumi were furious with him over everything he said about them. He thought that the two were furious over it, what he didn't realize what that they were overly concerned about him.

The digimon decided to walk next to Puppymon giving him some company along the way. None of them were aware that he was in a deep argument with Kiva and was in no way ready to leave it alone.

"Puppymon is something troubling you?" asked Bearmon cautiously.

Puppymon turned his head toward Bearmon angrily bearing his teeth. He was already taking out all of his frustrations on Kiva, he was not afraid to do the same with Bearmon either.

"Why is this any of your concern, might I ask? I don't see you jumping into anyone's problems. Are you just that bored and desperate for attention that you'll barge into my space?" Puppymon growled.

Bearmon looked at him stunned. Where did this come from? He was simply asking a question, he didn't want his head bitten off.

For a moment, Puppymon seemed to forget about Kiva, now focusing only on Bearmon. He was filled with a great amount of hatred as he glared at him. A low threatening growl escaped his mouth as he eyed the bear digimon.

Bearmon's eyes widened when he saw Puppymon lunge at him tackling him to the ground, pinning him there. The children and the other digimon stopped dead in their tracks turning to face the commotion behind them.

"What is your problem?" Bearmon rasped out.

"My problem? I don't have a problem. The only problem though that I might have is with you! I don't like digimon getting into **my** business and demanding to know the exact reason to my troubles."

Bearmon struggled underneath Puppymon's surprisingly strong weight. A scared look floated across his eyes thinking Puppymon was going to bite him or something.

"If this has anything to do with you and Kiva, maybe the two of you should make up. There is no sense in allowing this to go on any further," Bearmon choked out.

"Did I ask for your advice? No! You are no better than those around you. I could never forgive myself for what I did. Could you actually forgive yourself if you did that to James?" snapped Puppymon.

"Hey lay off, he was only trying to help!" Penguinmon snapped intervening now.

"You want to deal with me too?" Puppymon seethed. He lunged at Penguinmon easily knocking him to the ground. Penguinmon didn't have time to react when Puppymon pinned him to the ground as well.

"Hey, hey, that is enough!" shouted Renamon pulling Puppymon off of Penguinmon. Yukito ran over to Penguinmon making sure he was all right. James wasn't far behind, running to see if Bearmon was okay.

"How dare you allow your digimon to attack our digimon," James said to Kiva.

"Hey, don't you bloody dare blame Kiva for this. It is not her fault."

"Well, how about the fact that it was Puppymon's fault!" Mark snapped.

"Have we not been through this before? You have no **right** to blame Puppymon for the way he's acting. Yes, he's done some really stupid things as Okamimon but we have to let it go!" snapped Yumi pushing Mark.

"Knock it off both of you! We don't have time for this. We need to keep moving!" shouted Victoria furiously.

"Let me go, Renamon!" Puppymon growled struggling in her grip.

"Promise me you'll calm down!"

"Why don't you just leave me alone? This is none of your concern!" Puppymon growled biting her arm.

"Chill out, we're just here to understand. You did the same thing when I was Viximon and I had my doubts when I thought I let Victoria down," Renamon said dropping him on the ground.

"I don't need your pity. Leave me alone!" Puppymon snapped storming away.

A couple of the digimon and digidestined went to go after him but Victoria and Yumi stopped them.

"Just let him be. When he's good and ready, he'll cool down and start talking to us again!"

With that being said the group continued their journey through the desert. Puppymon still kept to the back now fully annoyed with Bearmon and Renamon.

Kiva seemed to go back into a distant mood; the telepathic link seemed to fade for a short time. After Puppymon's freak out, she really didn't want to upset him more.

After a few hours, the group soon came across a large village where quite a lot of digimon seemed to be engaged in sword fighting. It was uncertain what exactly they were doing until Kiva pointed it out to them that they were practicing.

"What are they practicing?"

"Kendo!" Yumi replied reading Kiva's hand signals.

"Oh, awesome!" Kisho said intrigued now.

"I'm getting a better look," Yumi said following Kiva.

The remaining group followed Kiva and Yumi further into the village. Sounds of swords clanging together could be heard by the near by digimon. There were different kinds of digimon around. All ranging from Rookie to Ultimate, one thing they had in common was they were all sword wielding digimon.

"This place looks amazing!" Kisho gasped.

"Wonder that is going on?" asked James.

"A tournament, all swords fighting digimon from around the digiworld have come here to compete," said a male voice behind the group.

Turning around, they saw a small digimon with two horns poking out of his head; he appeared to be a reptile style digimon wearing kendo gear.

"Hi…who are you?" Yumi asked raising an eyebrow.

"I am Kotemon; I'm a kendo wielding digimon. I am one of the Kotemon who lives in this village. You have come at the right time; we are hosting a kendo tournament here. You are more then welcome to join if you wish. Just a couple of rules, nothing major; no fresh or in-training digimon shall join, it is way too dangerous for them.

The rules of kendo are pretty simple; there are the preliminary rounds with a three point system in three minutes. For points you'll have to hit the main targets; forearms, thrust to the throat, the wrist and to the head. With no armour, the strikes to the head will have to be gentle.

After the preliminary rounds, we'll be switching to real swords, here is where it changes, instead of aiming for the four targets for points, and it'll be knocking the sword out of ones hand. So if someone has any problems with this are free to sit out or if they think they'll be able to go to the next round but don't want to deal with the swords, feel free to sit out after. Any questions?"

"Just one, where do we sign up?" asked Yumi answering Kiva's silent question.

"There is a list over there, just be advised that these are very strong digimon too."

"Don't worry, kendo is in my blood," Yumi replied still speaking for Kiva.

"Kisho, perhaps you should sit this out, it'll be too dangerous for you to compete," Mark said.

"Mark, stop babying him," Yukito said.

"This was such a bad idea coming here in the first place," Mark muttered.

Kiva rolled her eyes as she headed over to the sign up sheet, leaving else alone. Victoria and Yumi side glanced their friend strolling over to the sign up sheet. Turning back to the others, they noticed that Tora looking around noticing the missing person.

"Hey, where did Kiva go?" Tora asked.

"Over there signing up," Yumi replied pointing her thumb in the direction of Kiva.

"I don't understand why she's bothering to go into something so stupid," Mark commented. Kotemon shook his head at Mark's dissing of Kendo.

"Well if you truly think you can handle her wrath, go ask her yourself!" challenged Yumi.

The others were already on their way over to the table where Kiva got hold of the clip board and wrote down her name at the very top.

"I don't get why you're bothering to enter into something so stupid and useless," Mark said taking the clip board from her hands staring at her name at the top.

**Kiva: Because unlike you, I understand exactly what Kendo means, and what it represents. As well, I could easily kick your ass and you know it.**

Obviously Mark had no clue what was being said to him, he got little hints here and there but not the full conversation. Yumi and Victoria were too intrigued by the fight that was starting they didn't want to interfere.

"What? Is this how you avoid the question? Do quick movements with your hands and stand by your 'friends'?"

Kiva narrowed her eyes as she brought her fist up toward his face knocking him to the ground. Mark looked up at her in shock as she came down to his level hitting every visible spot she could find.

The others watched in shock, amazement, or annoyance. Yumi and Victoria obviously were in amaze at the strength that Kiva carried. Tora, Lalamon, Gaomon, Kisho and Labramon were in shock with the others stared at them completely annoyed. There were other places they could be to fight, why here?

"Someone want to get her off me?"

'_Admit that Kendo is not useless and that I'm stronger than you, then I'll think about it,'_ Kiva said mentally. Kiva knew that no one could hear her and that it was only a silent threat, but she didn't care, it gave her another reason to keep beating the crap out of Mark.

"Mark, just admit that kendo is not useless and that she's stronger," Renamon said.

"Never! Get…off…"

Mark tried his hardest to push her off of him but with no avail. She might look tiny, but she was strong. She held her weight in the right places keeping him permanently pinned.

"Kiva, stop it please!" cried out Kisho.

"There are other places to be fighting. We don't encourage fist fighting. Prove your strength with the sword."

Kiva smirked slightly as she brought her arm back ready to punch again. Kotemon was right; she could knock some sense into Mark by using a wooden sword. She slammed her hands into Mark's chest as she got to her feet, Mark let out a gasp of pain from the pressure on his chest.

Kiva headed over to Yumi, Victoria and Renamon discussing the tournament and asking if they were going to join.

James and Robert helped Mark to his feet seeing that he was in no shape to move. Once on his feet, Mark glared at the triplets as thoughts came into his head.

"You know what? I say we all join, see how fast we can actually get our butts kicked," Mark insisted. His main reason for wanting to join now was to prove to Kiva that he was not afraid of her and that they were no match for these digimon.

"Keep me out of this. I am no good with this type of confrontation," Tora said raising her hands in surrender as she backed up.

"Me too, I don't even think I could pick up the sword myself," Lalamon replied.

In seconds, the group signed in, both digidestined and digimon. Some of them knew that they were going to be only entering for fun, knowing that they were not going to be able to take on most of the digimon.

The Kotemon, who talked to the earlier, headed over to where a group of digimon were practicing. Kiva, Yumi, Victoria and Renamon were standing there looking highly intrigued by their movements.

"Do either of you know kendo?" Kotemon asked.

**Kiva: I've practiced it since I was six. I'm determined to see just how far I can get.**

"I can't wait to see you on the field then. How about you two?"

"Never taken it could be interesting," Yumi replied.

"Ditto. I'm just curious how we're going to determine those going to the next round," Victoria said.

"We'll be splitting everyone in four groups. It would originally be three, but seeing that we don't know any of your strengths, we can't split you up in the rookie, champion or ultimate groups. So there'll be a fourth group, just for humans," explained Kotemon.

"Sounds fair enough. What about height though? Kisho is the tiniest of the group."

"We have dealt with height before. I'm sure Kisho could handle his own."

"Next question. How do you start all of this? Like what's the proper moves?" Yumi asked.

"When you start, you bow to the audience, bot to each other, then you crouch until someone give you the go again, then you start. I'm sure your friend here can demonstrate what you have to do."

Kiva nodded her head as she gestured for Yumi and Victoria to follow her to a clear spot.

**Kiva: Obviously we don't have swords, but this is the gist of it.**

Kiva gave a tiny bow to Yumi then to Victoria before squatting for a couple of seconds then stood up. Her arms were stretched in front of her as if she were handling a sword.

**Kiva: Victoria, follow my lead.**

Victoria stood opposite her friend a little nervous as she too held out her hands as if she were holding a sword.

As Kiva advance on Victoria bringing her arms down, Victoria went into defence mode. She brought up her arms still in the stance of her holding a sword. Kiva nodded her head; their bodies were close to each other not giving any ounce of movement. Kiva moved her arms in a swiping motion toward Victoria's unprotected side. Victoria didn't react in time to stop the motion, Kiva backed away indicating a time out.

**Kiva: Good start. When you do go up against someone else, understand that you have to have better reactive time. At least I was able to show you one shot. Don't be afraid to keep up with blocking. Remember, you want to be the one to get the points, not your opponent. Got it?**

"Got it, thanks Kiva."

"Hey, I see Leomon!" James called watching a couple of Leomon's practicing.

"Yeah, their both Leomon's smartass!" called Yumi heading toward the group.

"I mean, do you think it's possible that it could be the same one from File Island?"

"Could be, but it's probably just another Leomon."

"You rally like to look on the negative side don't you?"

"It's my comfort zone; do you have a problem with that?"

"What are those type of digimon?" inquired Robert looking at a group of small dragon/dinosaur like digimon wearing what appeared to be a samurai uniform.

"Those are Ryudamon; they are masters of attacking with the spirit of a samurai. Don't be fooled by the armour, he is light on his feet," analyzed Tentomon.

There were quite a few Gladimon, Grademon, Knightmon, Musyamon and Asuramon all preparing for the tournament.

"Can I have everyone's attention, please? In just a short time we are going to be starting the preliminary rounds. With our new addition this time around, there is now four groups to start things off; humans, rookies, champions and ultimate's. All of you know the rules; it is to be a good, clean, proper match. No cockiness, we don't want to deal with the loss of heads!" came another Kotemon.

"Loss of heads?" gulped James.

"Oh take a breather, you'll be fine."

A couple of Leomon's made their way toward the digidestined giving James the chance to ask one of them if he perhaps was the one from File Island.

"Excuse me, Leomon?" James asked.

"Yes?" all five said.

"By chance, are any of you from File Island?"

"No!" the answered, walking away.

"Oh, well, thanks any way," James called out disappointedly.

"Happy?"

James didn't say anything to the comment. No, he wasn't happy; he just didn't want to tell Yumi.

The digidestined and their digimon headed over to the large crowd of digimon who were getting told what everything was suppose to happen and given wooden, bamboo swords. Yumi's face lit up maliciously as she held the sword in her hand.

"Yumi, put down the sword," Victoria said seeing the glimmer in Yumi's eyes. "It's not even real."

"Still a sword."

"Now, for the preliminary rounds, for those who have not participated before will be dealing with everyone in their respective groups all together. Which means everyone from each group will be going up against each other, those who get all three points will continue. We'll have two rounds for the preliminary and for the actual rounds will have four rounds, more will be explained after the preliminaries."

"This is going to be fun," snickered Yumi still eyeing her sword.

"What's her deal?" Robert asked.

"Slight obsession with swords, I just fear the outcome of her getting a real one," Victoria sighed.

The digidestined headed over to Tora who sat in the bleachers with Lalamon and a few other digimon. She was hunched over with her head in her hands.

"When is it suppose to start?" Tora said tilting her head up slightly.

"In a little while. They'll call up when they are ready."

The group fell silent for a little while as they waited for the Kotemon to call them to the ring. Yumi, Victoria and Kiva took off their bags leaving them with Tora for safe keeping.

"How long do you think we're going to last in this any way?" asked Yukito.

"Who knows, totally depends on how good your strength and determination is."

"That could mean only a couple of seconds," Yukito said as a sweat drop hung over his head.

"Will everyone join my please in the ring for this to start.

"Got to go. Tora, don't touch anything in our bags!"

"Yeah, yeah, they're safe here."

The triplets rolled their eyes as they walked away. It took every ounce of their strength not to freak out at her.

When all the digimon and humans got to the ring, they all faced the Kotemon waiting for more instructions.

"You have three minutes to get all three points; for those Kotemon not competing will be monitoring those who are competing they will be keeping score. Once someone has all three points against them are automatically out and the winner advances. For those who get the points under three minutes are allowed to continue until time is up. If it takes all three minutes then it'll move into the next round with three minutes again. Clear?"

"Clear!" shouted those in the crowd.

"Will all four groups please got to your respective spots to begin?"

The digimon departed, heading in different directions. The digidestined digimon followed behind the other rookies easily finding their spots. As for the digidestined, the eight looked around anxiously trying to find their spot. Kiva was the first to notice a Kotemon waving toward them.

She beckoned the others to follow her as she made her way over to the Kotemon. To their surprises it was the same Kotemon from earlier. He smiled up at Kiva as he waited for the other seven to gather round.

"Okay, so you're the smallest group in here, after the second round of the preliminaries, there should be two winners. Now, when I call your names I want you to find an open space in this vicinity and wait for my call. Mark, Victoria; Yumi, Yukito; Kiva, James; Kisho, Robert!"

"I like this pairing," smirked Victoria glaring over at Mark.

With everyone paired up and separate from everyone else, their eyes seemed to glance over to Kiva and James who had some distance with each other. Kiva seemed to be moving her hand back and forth telling James where to go and when to move. The others seemed to get the hint as they back away at least three steps.

The other digimon seemed to be doing the same stance. With everyone standing only feet apart, all of them turned to the audience, giving a small quick bow before turning back to each other bowing again. Automatically the digimon and humans took out their wooden swords and taking three big steps forward. When they were a foot away everyone squatted and stood up, their swords raised in front of them.

"Go!"

All around the field could be heard the sounds of wooden swords connecting together. Their footsteps hitting the ground in precise measure. Victoria couldn't keep the smirk off her face as she brought the sword down on Mark. This was sweet revenge that she could get used to. Mark's only self-defence was to raise his sword up in a coward stance. If he knew he would have to face up against Victoria there'd be no way he would have entered.

"Point!" cried Kotemon pointing at Victoria.

Mark was so out of it he didn't realize that Victoria had got him on his right side. Shaking his head he cleared his mind trying to get back into the whole fight. He went to attack, only to have Victoria show him why you should never get under her skin.

Over with the rookies, Renamon was showing off her skills against a Kotemon. Both at the time being seemed to be at equal grounds. Their strikes seemed to be matched each time. One thing Renamon seemed to have was the upper hand of the height factor. She was not ready to have a Kotemon beat her.

Some of the other digimon seemed to be doing just as well. Some like Labramon, Gaomon, Tentomon and Penguinmon, their sword fighting skills needed a little more tweaking here and there. They seemed to be no match for the two Kotemon and two Ryudamon.

"Two minutes remaining!" shouted Kotemon after a long quiet minute of fighting. It seemed to prolong time faster with all the excitement going on.

Most of the champion and ultimate level digimon seemed to already surpass into the second round. Three of the Leomon's were proving how much of strong fighters they truly were. Much of their competitors were in no mood to be out witted, especially the Musyamon; with them being trained swordsmon (not a typo); they didn't want to be out bested.

Over with the ultimate's, the Knightmon and Grademon seemed to be doing well advancing quickly. There was no way either one were admitting defeat. Only one group seemed to only have to fight for one battle. A Grademon was declared winner within the first minute.

Back with the humans, Victoria easily finished off Mark, not giving him any time to strike back. Looking around for another competitor, she soon realized that she would have to go up against her best friend.

"So, it's us two, huh?" Victoria said.

"Lucky me than Kiva, you wouldn't be able to last too long," Yumi replied raising the sword at the ready.

"Not going to go easy are you?"

"Nope, where would the fun be in that?"

"Let's do this; we only have a minute forty to finish."

"Good luck."

Victoria raised her sword as well staring at her friend trying to find all the weak spots within her. She knew deep down that Yumi had her time of weakness, but never showed it. There was her physical weakness that Victoria knew all the spots from fights at school and sparring at karate. Her mental was so much more complex.

Not worrying any more on the weakness, Victoria tried to remain confident that she could have a chance at going to the semi-finals. She knew that both of them were nearly matched in strikes.

Yumi seemed a little more in control of the fight. Her eyes remained focused as she continued to bring her sword down. She understood as friends, it was going to be tough beating each other. But this was no place for friendship getting in the way.

Time ticked by as the two girls continued to strike each other, their swords blocking each shot. They were not the only ones to be still going at it either. All around them the sounds of wooden swords hitting each other.

Yumi kept stepping forward and sliding back making false movements to keep Victoria on her toes. Yumi kept her eyes opened for any open sections that Victoria refused to block. She soon realized that Victoria's sides were wide open and didn't seem to realize.

Taking the advantage, Yumi stepped forward hitting Victoria's side for a point.

Victoria quickly slid back trying to come up with a plan of her own to get a point. Yumi obviously had a different plan on her part.

By the time that everyone had thirty seconds remaining, Yumi had snagged another point, while Victoria was able to get her first point.

Everything seemed to turn quiet as the girls challenged each other to make a move. Both of them daring each other to take a step forward to attack leaving the other free to attack any open spots.

It truly was the final seconds to attack, the girls heavy breathing were the only thing to be heard as beads of sweat dripped down their faces.

"Who wants this more?" whispered Gaomon to Bearmon and Renamon.

"Both of them are strong willed, both of them want it just as bad, but it's obvious that Yumi is going to come out victorious."

"Your not even going to cheer on your own partner?"

"She's done great, but I can tell that she's losing her drive. She her stance? It's wavering, just like her movements. If Yumi acts first she can easily strike while Victoria tries to clear her mind."

"POINT!" yelled the Kotemon.

Yumi had come out the victor over Victoria; she bowed to Victoria before going over to shake her hand.

"Well done, Victoria. You did an amazing job," Yumi said.

"You did better. You have to teach me those moves."

"I told you, come to class with me and you'll learn."

The girls headed over to the remaining digimon getting instructions for the next part of the round.

"Well done everyone. You all did a great job. For those heading to the rounds keep up the great work. Those who are out are more than willing to stay here and watch the next few rounds.

"Now to get down to business. This round you are dealing with real swords. Each sword is crafted in very unique chrome Digizoid. The blades have been sharpened to allow accurate precision. This is not a competition to see who can cut into their opponents; this is a competition to determine your strength and speed. Now the rules are very simple, to win you are to knock the sword out of your opponent's hands. Once again it'll be for three minutes. Unlike the last round, it'll be one group at a time and there are no points. All your names will be randomly selected for the match and who you are going up against. You have fifteen minutes to rest. Good luck to you all."

The group of digimon, Victoria, Yumi and Kiva departed and headed to different areas of the grounds. There were booths lined up serving drinks and other refreshments. The triplets located their friends easily sitting on the bleachers, apparently waiting for their return.

"Congratulations Yumi and Kiva!" cheered Tora.

"Thank…you. Okay, so we apparently have fifteen minutes to kill, so what do you guys want to do?" Yumi asked sitting down facing Tora and the others. She reached for her bag and took out her water bottle.

"I say we go wander around. We never got to when we got here," James suggested.

"I'm up for that," Renamon shrugged.

"As long as we're back in time and… "May I have your attention please? Here are the match ups for the next round! Yumi Yamamoto and Kotemon purple stripe! Kiva Inuzia and Grademon black stripe! Kotemon red stripe and Ryudamon green stripe! Renamon and Leomon! Kotemon blue stripe and Ryudamon orange stripe! Gladimon and Knightmon yellow stripe! Musyamon brown stripe and Grademon grey stripe! Musyamon gold stripe and Knightmon silver stripe! We'll be commencing in ten minutes so don't go too far. Yumi Yamamoto, Kotemon you two are up first!"

Kiva and Victoria put their bags on over their heads as Yumi stood up ready to head into the convention area. They needed to stretch their legs; it was going to be a very long day.

As soon as they were around the booths, the children and their digimon began to push their way through the crowd of digimon who seemed to just gather around making it difficult to move.

"Ugh, that's it! Excuse me! Coming through!" Yumi called grabbing hold of Victoria's wrist and pushing forward. "Pardon me! In coming! Watch your step!" Yumi was highly persistent and refused to give in to the whole nonsense of allowing those bigger than her get in her way.

The digimon moved to the side hearing the loud voice of Yumi. It was making life easier to deal with when it was clear sailing.

"Nice work!"

"You don't spend five years dealing with a crowded hall and remain quiet. People learn in a heart beat to move when they see me."

"Okay, now that we're through, where do you want to go?" asked Mark.

"I'm getting a drink," Yumi replied.

"We are getting low on supplied, I'm going to stock up," Victoria said checking the content in her bag.

"I'm going to see what kind of things they have around here," James said.

"I'm joining you," Kisho called.

"Yumi, wait up, I'm coming with you!" Tora called tailing behind Yumi.

'_Why me?'_ Yumi thought. "Hurry up please."

Kiva shrugged heading to a tent where a bunch of Kotemon, Leomon and Grademon sat at tables, talking, eating or passing time playing array of different games different to that of humans.

"Kiva! Over here!" Kiva turned her head to see the same Kotemon that they met earlier, waving at her.

Kiva made her way over to the table where the Kotemon sat alone. He motioned for her to have a seat, which she did so. She knew that Puppymon wasn't at her side for once, which was going to making talking an interesting one if the Kotemon didn't understand sign language or read lips.

"Are you having fun?" Kotemon asked.

Kiva nodded her head as she rested her arms on the table. This was going to be a very, very interesting conversation indeed.

"Excited about the next round?"

Kiva shrugged her shoulders staring at Kotemon.

Kotemon thought that maybe Kiva was in no mood to talk and that was why she wasn't saying to much.

"Do…you …not want to talk to me?" Kotemon asked his heart dropping.

Kiva nodded her head hoping she could make him understand somehow.

**Kiva: I should have explained when we got here. I'm mute. That's why I haven't answered your questions. As you can see I don't have anyone here to translate for me.**

"That makes sense. I should of realized that when I saw you talking to your friend when you first entered."

**Kiva: You can read sign language?**

"Very clearly. So tell me, what made you get into Kendo in the first place?"

**Kiva: I needed to deal with my anger somehow or another and being able to strike someone with a wooden sword seemed to be the best choice. But my main reason was to understand the truth behind kendo. Over the years I've been advancing quickly through the classes. Everyone's been surprised at my need to excel for this. No one seemed to expect much from me. Who could? I'm tiny, fragile by some people. I'm usually a whole new person on the field.**

"You definitely have shown that determination. You could easily make your way through these rounds."

"Yumi Yamamoto and Kotemon purple stripe, your presence is requested in the ring in ten minutes."

"Shall we go and watch?"

**Kiva: Sounds good to me!**

Back at the ring Yumi and the Kotemon with a purple sash tied to his belt were being given their swords for the next round. The handle was pure gold with an image of a dragon style digimon. It was smooth and cut beautifully. The blade part was at least seventy-three centimetres long. The sun light gleamed against the silver blade. The metal was very strong chrome Digizoid just like the Kotemon said, it apparently made up a lot of armor for the digimon.

"Shiny!" Yumi's said eyes wide.

"Oh yeah, we are not allowed to give her a sword," Victoria groaned from her spot on the bleachers.

"She does know what she's doing right?" asked Tora.

"Yeah, scary thing is, she has never taken kendo before. Handling a sword on the other hand is a whole new story. Her father and grandfather are swordsmen; they deal with rapiers, broadswords, and a variety of other swords. Yumi got taught during the times she went to visit them."

**Round one**

Yumi and Kotemon stood facing each other their swords in their sheaths. Turning to the large audience they gave a short bow and turned back to each other bowing quickly. Both took three long steps towards each other, took out their swords pointing it toward each other and crouched.

"Begin!"

Yumi and Kotemon stood up their swords tight in their hands as they began to strike each other trying to disarm each other. Their eyes burned with determination as each stared the other down. Neither one wanted to be out. The rules for this were clear, once the sword left the opponents hands the other person gets the point and wins.

Clanging of metal now could be heard in the stillness of the field. Their swords hitting each other at great speeds. It was going to be a close battle at best.

"And she's **never** done kendo," Robert asked.

"Precisely." Victoria said refusing to look away from the match.

"But she **has** practiced sword fighting?" asked Penguinmon.

"Yep!" Victoria replied following Yumi and Kotemon closely never missing a step.

"I'm really surprised that she hasn't treated it like any other sword fight."

"She knows the rules. Besides, this is exactly how she got taught."

As Yumi went to strike, she slid back before sliding up again. Her footwork was becoming incredible; it surprised the crowd that she wasn't tiring out yet. Yumi foresaw the Kotemon quickly step forward ready to strike, giving her the ability to bring her sword up knocking it out of Kotemon's hands.

"Winner!"

"Good job Kotemon," Yumi said respectfully, shaking his hand.

"You did a better job."

"Musyamon brown stripe, Grademon black stripe! You're next!"

A digimon wearing pure gold armor, with red patches along the sides of his arms, legs and torso with claw like feet and a torn royal blue cape, stood up walking gracefully over to the Kotemon.

Another digimon wearing a red samurai uniform, with two styling of masks stood up as well heading over to the Kotemon and Grademon. He did not look like a digimon that one wanted to be near.

With the two grasping the swords in their hands the two digimon faced each other in a stare down. Their swords clanging loudly as both stepped forward in attempt to best each other. Even if they were different levels, they were still matched fairly well.

At the bleachers, Yumi returned to her spot sitting next to Victoria, whose eyes were still glued on the match. Yumi did a slight tennis ball match head movement from the match to Victoria and back again.

"Has she moved from this spot yet?"

"Nope. I don't think she wants to miss a single action."

"But it's…"

"Winner!"

"Who? What?"

"Grademon won. That's why I don't look away from the action," Victoria replied matter-of-factly.

"Trust me, you will."

The next contestant were a Gladimon and a Knightmon yellow stripe. Both were the different evolutions from each other. It was going to be a very interesting match. Victoria of course was glued to the scene, while Yumi seemed to be more on the mellow side of being in and out of realization.

The match was over within seconds with Knightmon as the victor. Gladimon didn't have a chance, yes there was a height factor but that had nothing to do with it.

After them was a Kotemon blue stripe and a Ryudamon orange stripe. There was a good reason why there was a three minute time period, neither one wanted to give in.

Their determination was strong and fierce; Ryudamon grasped his sword as if it were life itself. With the sun gleaming down on the swords, it sparkled every time the swords struck each other.

With less than a minute to go, Kotemon proved just how strong and fast he truly was. Ryudamon didn't harbour any hate for him.

The next competitors to go up was Renamon and Leomon. The digidestined erupted in applause, shouts and whoops. They were not afraid to show their enthusiasm over their team mate. Victoria knew full well that Renamon could take on anything without breaking a sweat.

Yumi sat at the edge of her seat along with Victoria staring intently at the two opposing digimon. One a fox, the other a lion, both with different builds. But it didn't matter the build of a digimon, rather the speed.

As soon as the Kotemon called begin, Renamon slid to the side bringing her sword to the side thinking she had the upper hand only to be proven wrong by having Leomon deflecting it.

"Come on Renamon, you can take him. Don't let his size fool you!" screamed Victoria.

"Show him that size doesn't matter!" called out Lalamon.

Renamon smirked as she eyed Leomon, trying to anticipate the next move. Leomon seemed to be biding his time refusing to rush into the match.

"It appears you have a good cheering squad behind you."

"Yeah, I know their proud, including my partner. You my friend need to keep you eyes on the match."

"Telling me how to duel? You my dear have never even held a sword. I will admit that you seem to have a good handle on your ground."

Renamon dodged the sword quickly as it came down upon her. Leomon used the conversation as a distraction thinking that he would have the upper hand on things. Renamon once again proved him wrong as she kept dodging both with her sword and how quickly she could jump away.

The two seemed to be psyching each other, wanting desperately to get the other out.

Yumi could feel the tension grow within Victoria as she grasped the bleacher as hard as she could. Victoria would love to see her go far; her speed was enough to escape each strike.

"Winner! Renamon!"

"Woo!" screamed Victoria jumping up.

"Way to go, Renamon!" shouted Yumi.

Two more rounds went by quickly; another Musyamon was up against another Knightmon, the Musyamon coming out the victor. The second group was a Kotemon and Ryudamon. It seemed to be another battle of the wits with these two. Ultimately the Ryudamon came out the victor causing the Ryudamon to shout out their appraisal.

"Last group of the first round! Kiva Inuzia and Grademon grey stripe!"

Kiva headed over to the ring where the Grademon was already waiting for her. He didn't seem much of a threat, but first glances were usually the misleading of all.

Getting into their positions, Kiva and Grademon did their bows to the crowd and to each other. Kiva could already foresee a quick match lasting only a few seconds. The digimon might be an ultimate but she sensed something inside of him that indicated that he was not as great as he appeared to be.

As soon as the Kotemon shouted begin, Kiva immediately went on the offence trying to figure out the Grademon's weak spots before actually attacking. The Grademon tried to hold his ground, but couldn't keep up with her speed. Before he knew it his sword was out of his hands, leaving Kiva still holding hers.

"Winner! Kiva Inuzia!"

"Awesome job, Kiva!" the digidestined and their digimon cheered.

Kiva bowed to Grademon before returning to the bleachers. She wasn't expecting much from the group, they wouldn't go near her unless they wanted to be hurt. Puppymon of course still harboured sore feelings, so any congratulations were out from him.

"Congratulations to our winners. Seconds round will start in ten minutes. Match ups will be posted momentarily."

"So we're just going to stay here then?" James asked really edgy.

"You guys don't have to stick around if you don't want to. Just don't leave the village," Yumi said, indicating Mark.

"Anyone want to wander some more?" James suggested.

"I'm up for another stroll. My legs are getting a little stiff," Kisho answered, Labramon agreeing. No one expected Kisho and Labramon to be sitting for too long.

James, Bearmon, Kisho and Labramon left the group to head back to the convention area. The others remained seated; none of them wanted to be moving around much at the moment. They were all curious as to who was going up against who in the next round.

"Here are the second round match ups! Kotemon and Grademon! Yumi Yamamoto and Ryudamon! Renamon and Knightmon! Kiva Inuzia and Musyamon!"

"Your strength is really being tested isn't it Kiva?" asked Yumi impressed.

**Kiva: I just hope that this round goes just as quickly as the last.**

"I wish you luck, Kiva!" Kotemon said.

Everyone looked up to see the same Kotemon from earlier, strolling toward them. Kiva inclined her head in agreement. She was confident enough that she could do well

"How is everyone doing?" Kotemon asked sitting down.

"Great," everyone responded.

"Enjoying your time?" he asked.

"Yes, I am so glad we came upon this village," Yumi replied holding her sword in both her hands.

"You have proven yourselves well. Well done to you, Kiva and Renamon for getting this far," Kotemon said looking at Yumi.

"Thank you."

"Completely random. Where is Puppymon?" Penguinmon asked looking around expecting to find a black ball of fur lying somewhere.

"I haven't seen him since the preliminaries," Lalamon answered.

"He couldn't have gone far. He's probably just sightseeing," Kotemon responded.

**Kiva: I'm not worried. He's able to take care of himself. When he's ready to come back he will.**

**Round two**

Ten minutes flew by as the Kotemon called for Grademon and Kotemon blue stripe to join the ring again. Some of the digimon returned to watch the match, while others were still in the convention area.

The times were the same as before, both had three minutes to disarm one another.

Kotemon only reached the Grademon's shin, even though height was not an issue, the fact of trying to knocking the sword from Grademon's hands was. That wasn't the case this time. Kotemon kept the distance tight with him, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to do much. Grademon used more of his strength and precision to deal with Kotemon. Within seconds the sword flew out of Kotemon's hands.

"Winner!"

Yumi slowly rotated the sword subconsciously waiting to be called, she wasn't terrified of the fight, she wasn't up against the strong digimon, but she was up against a good one.

"Yumi Yamamoto! Ryudamon! You're next!"

Yumi stood up carefully putting the sword back in the sheath. She was ready to deal with Ryudamon and get it over with.

"Good luck Yumi!" the others called after her.

Yumi raised her hand in a sign of gratitude before facing against Ryudamon. She noticed the similarities between her and Ryudamon and Grademon and Kotemon. Although Ryudamon was closer in height, she was still taller than him.

"Begin!"

They were off in seconds, the metal clanging against metal. Yumi's eyes remained fixated on the Ryudamon and his sword. She could see the determination in his eyes, the need to win. She understood full well his need to win, she wanted to win too.

"Yumi, don't lose sight!" yelled Renamon noticing her slack of movement.

Yumi circled the Ryudamon's sword a few times before forcing it down knocking it out of his hand.

"Winner!"

"Good work, Ryudamon!" Yumi said shaking his hand.

"Seems the better person won."

Renamon made her way on to the field meeting Yumi half way. She placed her hand on Yumi's shoulder causing Yumi to look up and smile.

"Good luck," Yumi whispered.

"Thanks, I'll need it."

Yumi smiled as she shook her head, strolling back to the bleachers. She was greeted by a chorus of 'congratulations!' and 'good job!'

"How do you think Renamon will do?" Yukito asked.

"Who is she up against? Knightmon? I say within the first minute she wins," Victoria replied.

"You are very confident about this, aren't you?" Gaomon asked.

"She's my partner, I have faith in her."

The match was quick, just like Victoria predicted, Renamon won just under the minute causing Knightmon to look in confusion at what happened.

"She was worried for nothing," Yumi said.

"Kiva Inuzia! Musyamon! You two are up!"

"Show him who the champ is," Yumi grinned.

**Kiva: Give me twenty seconds in the ring.**

"I hold that against you," Yumi laughed.

"Begin!" the Kotemon said once the two bowed.

Kiva wasn't messing around this time round. After facing Grademon in the last round, she needed to let out some steam. She still had two more rounds where she'll be crown winner. She could already taste victory. Ducking in time from the sword, she swung her own sword into his sending it flying.

"Winner!"

"Kiva truly does not waste any time does she?" asked Kotemon.

"Not her style. She needs to be challenged, and all these digimon are not giving her that."

"She might have her chance," Kotemon replied. "You see that lone Grademon, the one with the black stripe? He gives no mercy. His attacks are swift, precise and very dangerous. We've been warned about him. He'll do almost anything to win. Apparently he's won these tournaments before. Not soo sure if by cheating or if he'd actually won properly."

"That could be a very interesting battle to see. Hey Kiva, nice work out there."

**Kiva: I told you I'd be done in twenty seconds.**

"I'm very surprised by the three of you being able to last this long," Kotemon mentioning Yumi, Kiva and Renamon.

"It's just this round to determine what two are fighting for the win," Victoria said stretching her arms.

"May I have your attention please? The match ups for the third round are Renamon and Grademon! And Yumi Yamamoto and Kiva Inuzia! Third round begins in fifteen minutes!"

"Now that's what I call a good match up," Robert said.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to look for Kisho," Mark finally said after sitting in silence for so long.

"Right behind you. I think my butt fell asleep," Tora and Victoria said in unison standing up cautiously.

The group headed into the convention area again on the look out for James, Kisho, Labramon and Bearmon.

The crowds had expanded big time making it completely difficult to get through. Even Yumi's voice couldn't budge the digimon.

Groaning, Yumi grabbed hold of Victoria's wrist dragging her down an ally that was clear of digimon allowing them to move easily to get from one spot to another. The others followed closely behind the girls. Victoria grasping hold of Kiva's wrist making sure she didn't lose sight of her. The voices of digimon still rang clear in the busy section. The others surprisingly kept up as long as possible, not wanting to lose track of Yumi and Victoria.

"Okay, so, what makes you think the four are down here?" Mark asked.

"I don't. I hate crowds, especially where it is impossible to get through," Yumi replied taking out her digivice.

"What happens if they're back out there?" Mark asked getting all defensive.

"Unless your brain got fried in the sun, have you forgotten about these things?" Yumi snapped holding up her digivice to Mark's face.

There was a multitude of dots flashed on the screen. All of them representing the digimon there for the tournament.

"How in the world are we suppose to find Kisho and James in that mess of dots?"

"Look for green and yellow and you have your answer. That's the only good thing with the sea of amber."

Sticking to the back areas, the group continued their hunt for the two missing digidestined.

"Hold up, green dot appeared! Could Kisho be hiding or could he be somewhere else?" Yumi mused spinning on the spot holding on to her digivice trying to get a lock on the coloured dot.

"Okay, so apparently they're in that general direction and apparently surrounded by other digimon. If there is a large group crowd, one of you is going in."

The group headed back into the busy section again dodging around digimon. Once again everyone was linked up afraid to be separated.

"Good gods, this is insane," Yumi groaned pulling her arms closer to her body forcing Victoria to be pulled toward her too. She got the hint pretty clear when Yumi stopped abruptly in her tracks.

"What is with all the pulling?" Gaomon asked.

"I am loathing crowds more and more. This is why it is safe to stay in secluded areas," Yumi muttered.

"Hey I think they're in there!" Mark shouted over the loud voices checking his own digivice. He pointed toward a medium size building.

"Let's go, I don't want to be in here for too long!"

Inside the building all of the digimon participating sat at bistro style seats. There was a long bar at the far side where Kotemon's were serving drinks to those around them. A Grademon with a black stripe was leaning on the counter staring at the crowd of digimon. There was a glint in his eyes of satisfaction. He seemed to be the uptight type digimon.

In the middle of the bistro were James, Kisho, Bearmon and Labramon eating. They didn't seem to be overly concerned with the large crowd digimon.

Yumi pushed herself through the tight fitted tables toward the middle of the room.

"You four are the most difficult people to track down."

"Hey, how did it go?"

"Kiva, Renamon and Yumi are going to the third round," Penguinmon said.

"Congratulations," Kisho said.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we please get out of here?" Yumi asked getting edgy all of a sudden.

"She okay?" Kisho asked.

"Slightly claustrophobic," replied Victoria.

Yumi surpassed a shudder as she felt everything close in on her. Air was all she needed right now.

James, Kisho, Labramon and Bearmon stood up from their spots paying for their meal waiting to leave. Kiva seemed to be in her own private world as she stared over at Grademon. There was something about him that she did no trust. He seemed to be in a heated discussion with a digimon she could not see.

"Kiva? Kiva! Are you still with us?" Tora asked.

**Kiva: I thought we were leaving?**

Although she wasn't talking, her facial expression showed a snappish comment forming.

Fresh air greeted the digidestineds and their digimon minutes later as they made their way back to the ring. No one said a word the whole way. The silence was a grateful thing to experience.

"Can Renamon and Grademon black stripe please report to the ring for the start of the third round?" called out the Kotemon over the loud speaker.

"Apparently the next round is going to start," James said, pointing out the obvious.

"Renamon, just be careful with this digimon. I'm not sure if he'll trying any of this tricks," cautioned Kotemon.

"Don't worry, I can handle myself."

**Round three**

The digidestineds and their digimon along with a few other digimon sat on the bleachers staring intently at the two opposing digimon. Renamon didn't show any fear or nervousness. Her expression looked completely blank as she stared hard into Grademon's eyes.

Grademon on the other hand, stood with confidence and determination. He almost appeared completely relaxed and calm, like he already knew the out come of the battle.

"Begin!"

Immediately their swords blocked each other's refusing the other to get the upper hand. Grademon kept his body completely relaxed, not wanting to exert all of his energy. Renamon was no match for him, even with all her strength being used. She put all her weight into her sword to drive him back. She needed to keep the distance between herself and Grademon.

Victoria was once again on the edge of her seat, her hands balled up into fists on her lap as she stared wide eyed at the fight. She didn't understand how this digimon would act so calm.

Yumi side glanced at Victoria sensing the tension within her. She raised her eyebrow at the sight. She looked like she was ready to lead off her seat. Her fists were resting on her knees pulsing with tension. Her eyes refused to leave the scene.

"Tori? You might want to relax a bit there," Yumi said calmly.

"Not until the match is over. I mean, seriously, what is wrong with this digimon? He's far too assured about himself. RENAMON! DON'T GIVE UP!" screamed Victoria freaking out those around her.

"Where did that come from?" asked Tentomon.

"That is what we call determination from a partner," replied Robert.

Renamon continued to back up blocking every single swipe that Grademon gave. He was getting more determined to finish the battle. He refused to give Renamon the distance she needed.

"Give up foxy."

"Never!"

As the minute passed, Grademon could see Renamon's body grow tired giving him the chance to swing his sword toward her sword knocking it out of her hand.

"RENAMON!" Victoria yelled treating the loss as if Renamon had been attacked by an evil digimon.

"Winner! Grademon!"

"Kiva, ready?" Yumi sighed.

**Kiva: Don't think I'm going easy on you.**

"Last group! Kiva Inuzia and Yumi Yamamoto!"

"Good luck you two!" shouted the digimon.

The two girls headed off the bleachers toward the ring. Renamon met them at the entrance with a smile on her face.

"Don't kill each other," Renamon teased.

"Great advice. Good try though out there," Yumi said.

Renamon didn't seem to be too concerned about the fact that she lost. She had a great time being able to go all the way to the third round. She reached the bleachers and was greeted by a tight embrace by her partner. She was a taken aback by the reaction of Victoria, this was not like her, but was grateful nonetheless for the hug.

"You did awesome out there. I am so proud of you," Victoria said smiling up at Renamon.

"Thank you, and as much as I appreciate this and like the new you, what is going on with you?" Renamon asked curiously.

"Just very happy to see you out there. I might also have had some sugar," Victoria replied slightly hyper.

"Oi!" Renamon sighed walking her back to the group.

Victoria's attitude was really beginning to change. She was starting to come out of her comfort zone. Especially when she had any sugar or chocolate in her system. It was a good sign to Renamon that she was no longer in her dark zone. However that could never last for too long.

"Begin!"

Yumi and Kiva held their swords in front of each other, waiting for the right moment to attack. Yumi knew that Kiva was a great at kendo; her movements were sharp, precise and quick. Yumi herself was better with blocking and dodging attacks. Her sword techniques were strong and quick thanks to her father and grandfather.

Kiva brought down her sword making Yumi to react quickly; she wanted her to keep focus on the match and nothing else. She had a feeling Yumi was starting to lose focus on everything around her. Hopefully Yumi could at least give her a good battle, and wouldn't throw the match.

The swords continued to crash together for some time. Their footsteps were quick to move side to side. Neither one cared about how much energy they were going to use up.

The digidestineds and their digimon were cheering loudly for both girls. They couldn't choose between Yumi and Kiva. This was a very interesting match between two friends.

Mark kept his same bored posture the entire match. He rather be anywhere but at the match. His hunch was right from the beginning, it was a very useless competition, but he dare not voice it in fear of Yumi, Kiva or one of the others demanding to know his reason.

He no longer had an excuse to leave the area, seeing as they already had Kisho and James back. But that didn't seem to stop him from making something else up if they asked. Slipping from his spot, he headed back to the convention area to clear his mind. They could easily find him if they truly wanted to, if not he was free to do whatever he chose to do.

In the semi-busy convention area, Puppymon continued to stroll the tiny walk ways with vendors at every stop. He continued to bypass everything, ignoring the sounds, the rush, everything all together.

He felt worse than he had when he entered the village. It wasn't the fact that he didn't get far in the preliminaries, or the fact that him and Kiva still weren't talking. It was more because of a discussion he had with Grademon. He let out a low growl of hatred toward the comments Grademon made to him.

~Flashback~

Puppymon entered the busy bistro, he needed someplace just to relax and possibly get something in him. He had been away from the group over what seemed to be an hour. It gave him time to think of everything that had happened over the past two days. He still couldn't find it in himself to forgive what he did.

His mind was so clouded with thoughts that he no longer knew where he was going. He felt his body bump into something that felt like metal. Shaking his head Puppymon looked up to see a Grademon with a black sash.

He didn't look too amused that a tiny digimon walked into him. Grademon sneered down at the black blob of fur that seemed to back up to get a better view of the digimon.

"Why don't you watch where you are going?" snapped Grademon.

"Chill, sorry okay?"

"I've never seen you around here before, where are you from?"

"Why should I tell you? It is none of your business," Puppymon answered, careful not to let slip that he was a digidestined digimon, afraid of who was working for Etemon.

"Wait a minute; I thought I've seen you before! Your that Puppymon that belongs to that Kiva girl. Are you ashamed to be around her or something?"

"Stop being so full of yourself already. Is this how you win all your matches? By bringing digimon down?" Puppymon growled.

"Save your breath. Besides, it's that ridiculous trainer of yours who needs to watch her back. She has yet to face me and I don't think she's going far." "How about you slow down for a moment. There is still this round to go through. Who says that you are going to win? I know that Renamon can take on anything."

"Ha, she's another one that won't last. I'll make sure of that."

"Whatever. I don't even know why I'm having this conversation in the first place."

"Running back to that so called partner?"

Puppymon, who already had his back turned, spun around and leapt at Grademon's leg. Although not doing a lot of damage, it was still enough to have Grademon kick Puppymon to the other wall.

"Is that truly the best you've got?" laughed Puppymon slowly getting to his feet.

"Cross my path again, and you will understand what I am truly capable of doing."

~End flashback~

Puppymon learned to ignore any pain from Kiva; he was understanding how much she truly meant to him.

Back in the ring, Yumi and Kiva started to circle each other striking one another's sword, daring each other. They had been at it for two minutes, always switching up their game to keep the crowd interested.

Yumi could feel sweat drip down her face and neck at each step she made. Her body was becoming tired and rubbery.

Kiva wanted to give Yumi the chance to go far, she wanted her to keep up her confidence. Yumi had given her that challenge that she was looking for. One thing Kiva didn't want Yumi to do was throw the match.

('You're doing amazing, Yumi. But you do know that we have to finish this, one way or the other,') Kiva mouthed.

"You're on, let's finish this." The two girls continued to strike and block each move, refusing to give in. Victoria and Renamon were one the edge of their seats when Yumi and Kiva got close to finishing the match.

"Thank god for time limits," Robert said.

"Don't count on it, there's still over time," Victoria mentioned turning her head slightly.

"Any one seen Mark?" Gaomon asked.

"Your kidding me? He's missing?" groaned Victoria. "All right, we all can't leave. Kiva and Yumi stayed for our matches. James, Bearmon, Gaomon, Tora, Lalamon, Robert and Tentomon go and see if you can find Mark. The rest of us will remain here and deliver the news to Yumi and Kiva when the match ends. If it ends."

The seven left the bleachers heading back to the convention area. They hoped it wouldn't take long to find Mark.

Renamon lightly nudged Victoria, "Tori, I promise, everything is going to be okay."

"I'm not worried about that, I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him."

Seconds passed by when Kiva was announced winner. Yumi was exhausted from the fight, but was happy that she got to at least go up against Kiva in the end. The one thing she was going to miss was the fact that she had to give up her sword.

"Great match."

**Kiva: Thank you for the challenge.**

Heading back to the bleachers, Yumi and Kiva immediately noticed something wrong with the group.

"Where are the others?" Yumi asked crossing her arms.

"Mark wandered off and the others went to find him," Yukito replied taking some of the heat off Victoria.

"All right, let's go find him. We have fifteen minutes to kill before the next match so let's make this a productive one."

In the convention area, Mark was facing up against Grademon, with Puppymon behind Mark.

"So the weak one needs a body guard."

"What is your problem, dude? Neither one of us has done anything wrong to you."

"Says the one who doesn't have that much respect to the sport, why did you even come here?"

"None of your business!"

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" James asked.

"Stay out of this!" Grademon yelled, now holding on to his sword, the tip pointing toward Mark.

"What is with the third degree here?" demanded Robert.

"You stay away from my partner!" shouted Gaomon lunging between Mark and Grademon.

"You should never have come here!"

Had this digimon lost it? Was he truly going to kill a digidestined? Was he working for Etemon? So many questions filtered through their heads as they watched horrified at the scene.

The digimon went to lunge forward ready to stab Mark but was blocked by another sword. Kiva stood there looking livid at the Grademon.

"Coming to the rescue, huh?"

Kiva narrowed her eyes as she swiped the sword away from Grademon threateningly. She had no patience with this kind of bull.

Grademon narrowed his eyes at Kiva before picking up his sword and stalking away.

Kiva turned back to Mark, eyes still narrowed down to slits. She didn't care if he started it or not, this should never have happened.

While she was staring down Mark, she never noticed Puppymon standing behind Marl with his head down ready to turn around and walk away.

"Puppymon, I'm so glad we found you!" Lalamon cried out.

'_Puppymon? Where have you been?'_ Kiva asked relieved to see him safe, although she hadn't turned her attention from Mark yet.

'_Around, I'm amazed you even cared.'_

'_Not this again. Can we please drop it?'_

"I say we head back to the ring, there's nothing here for us."

"I'm getting a drink before we head back," mentioned Tora.

"Hurry up, we are not waiting forever here!" called out Victoria.

Minutes later, the digidestined and all their digimon returned to the bleachers along with all of the previous competitors of the match. All the spots were filled within seconds.

The excitement seemed to fill the entire crowd as they waited for the Kotemon to call the final round.

"May I have your attention please? I would like to welcome to the ring the final champions, Kiva Inuzia! And Grademon black stripe!"

The entire audience erupted in applause for both Kiva and Grademon. No one else seemed to realize what happened between Grademon and Mark mere moments ago.

Kiva stood up from her spot on the bleachers and headed over to the ring ignoring the applause. The Grademon was already standing there holding on to his sword. Kiva eyed him for a moment measuring him up and down trying to locate all his weakness before the match began.

Grademon looked down upon Kiva narrowing his eyes, was this joke? Did he truly have to go up against a puny human? At least he got to finish his ordeal with her on the field. He let out a scoff as he made his way on to the ring waiting for Kiva to join him.

Kiva seemed to be fuelled by his lack of interest and disbelief of what she could do. As well as the fact that she was still irritated with him from the confrontation.

Facing the crowd both gave a tiny bow then turned to each other giving another tiny bow. Kiva grasped the handle of her sword as she pulled it out of the sheath. For a moment she held the sword in her hand allowing the light to shine upon it.

Both took three big steps forward with their swords raised in front of each other. The two glared at each other as they crouched down placing their swords on the grounds.

Kiva had a feeling that the Grademon wouldn't hold back if they were in a real battle.

"Begin!"

Kiva grabbed hold of her sword and quickly went into action, side stepping as she brought down the sword. Grademon refused to give her the space for any encounters. Their swords hitting each other with great force, Kiva smirked s she used all her strength to force him back.

"Why don't you give up? This is a sport only for the top performers. Your amateur attacks won't do anything to help you here."

'_Why don't you keep your mouth shut and focus on the match. I can tell you right now that within the next couple of moves you are going to lose.'_ Kiva knew that she was only doing a mental threat but it was worth it. What she wasn't expecting was a comeback.

"Afraid of a little competition? Thinking you can psyche me out with your little threats?"

'_So you can read thoughts, huh? See if you can read this!'_

Kiva took a step back as she swung her sword to the side only to have Grademon deflect it. Kiva mentally counted blocks in her head as she went for her second attack to the front. Again, deflected. If Kiva's prediction was true, she would win the next move.

"Kiva, come one, you can do it!" shouted Yumi, Victoria and Renamon.

"We know you can beat him. Don't let size fool you!"

"Seems you have a strong group."

"Something you don't seem to have."

Grademon sneered down at her watching as she brought her sword close to him. He blocked the attack easily without thinking about it. When he saw his chance, he aimed his sword directly toward Kiva's open hand. He refused to lose to a human and this was the only way to make sure it didn't happen.

Kiva saw the tip of the sword drive through her hand and blood pour out like it was nothing.

Puppymon felt his fur stand up as he stood up growling. How dare someone harm his tamer? He ran into the ring ignoring the calls of protest.

Three Kotemon's headed over to Kiva, who was holding on to her hand after Grademon pulled out the sword.

"Are you all right?" a Kotemon asked concerned.

"Will be," Kiva and Puppymon said.

"This match will be postponed for the next ten minutes!" Kotemon called.

"Give me five minutes," Kiva said still putting pressure on the wound.

'_Kiva, are you truly okay?'_ Puppymon asked walking by her side.

'_Yes, I am sure. Glad to have you back,'_ Kiva replied inwardly smiling.

In a medic tent just to the side of the ring, Kiva dug through her bag with her good hand searching for her medical tape. None of the Kotemon's went near her after being warned by Puppymon.

"She can do this herself," Puppymon said.

Once Kiva had the medical tape in her hand she wrapped it around her hand almost professionally.

The Kotemon stared in amazement at her being able to do something like this. Puppymon sat at his partner's side watching with intrigue. He knew that she had done this before, but it still impressed him.

"Why do you carry medical tape with you, may I ask?" the Kotemon that hung with the group asked.

"More importantly, how did you learn to do that?" asked another one.

"You never know when it comes in handy, and years of practice," Kiva and Puppymon responded sealing the tape up good.

"Maybe you should sit this out. There is no sense you going back out there and getting hurt," another Kotemon insisted.

"No, I don't want to give him the benefit of the doubt of him beating me over a simple flesh wound," Puppymon and Kiva said.

Kiva stood up easily picking up her sword and headed out of the tent with Puppymon trailing behind her.

"Ladies and gentlemon, I would like to welcome back Kiva Inuzia to the ring."

Applause and cheers erupted from the bleachers as Yumi, Victoria and Renamon breathed a sigh of relief. Puppymon rejoined the group once more, back to his usual self, instead of the out casted one.

"How is she?"

"Stubborn."

"I meant her hand."

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

"So you're back for more punishment, huh? Did you not learn your lesson from before?"

'_Apparently not! Enough talk, I just have one more move to beat you and become winner.'_

"You still think yourself confident, don't you?"

'_I have proven myself already.'_

"Begin!"

"Kiva, don't let him psyche you out!"

Kiva smirked as she swung her sword.

"You still truly believe you are going to win this tournament? A human such as yourself? Too funny!"

Kiva anticipated each and every move that Grademon made. She showed no fear or backing down.

Grademon was getting even more furious than he already appeared to be. He needed to get her out of the way. If he chose his moves properly, he could knock the sword out of her hand easily.

Kiva kept her eyes upon Grademon waiting patiently for the strike. She knew that he was planning something and she had to keep her concentration.

The next move was quick, one where if you blinked you missed it. Grademon brought his sword down upon her making her react quickly by raising her own sword knocking his to the ground.

"Winner! Kiva Inuzia!"

Shouts came from the stands in congratulations to Kiva. She was beckoned to the middle where a Kotemon stood waiting with a long black box.

"Congratulations Kiva for being this year's winner! I would like to present to you this year's prize." The Kotemon opened up the box revealing a dark gray symbol with two half hooks on either side. "As well, you are allowed to keep your sword in memory of your hard work."

Over on the bleachers, Mark's tag began to glow in activation to the image.

"It can't be!"

"That's a crest?"

On the field, Grademon strolled over to Kiva looking hurt, but he didn't show it for long.

"Congratulations. You did an amazing job, perhaps you were a worthy competitor after all."

'_I couldn't say it better myself,'_ Kiva replied shaking his hand.

"Kiva, can I have my crest please?" Mark asked walking up to her.

"Hmm, no!" Puppymon and Kiva said.

"What? Why not?" "Let's see, you decided to argue with me when we got here, you have shown me zero respect, so forget it!" Kiva replied.

"You have to be kidding me."

"Fine. We fight; I want to see if you can win this from me."

"Okay, now I know you've lost it."

"We'll use wooden swords, and we'll go with the three point system."

"That works with me."

In minutes, Kiva and Mark were facing each other, wooden swords raised in the ready. Kiva already had a plan formulating in her head of what was going to happen. She wanted to kick his ass good getting back for everything he said and did.

"Begin!"

Mark struck his sword down hard thinking he was going to hit her either on the head or shoulder. Kiva raised her sword to block the attack. They held their swords together for some time as both stared each other down.

Kiva advanced upon him, stomping her foot down hard and bringing her sword down causing Mark to continue to back up and block. He wanted to strike her, but she wouldn't allow him a point.

"What are they doing out there? Dancing?" asked Tora and Lalamon.

"More like challenging. Kiva's planning something out there, what she's planning is beyond me," Yumi mused.

Puppymon stared intently at his partner watching each and every move she made. He knew that Kiva had things planned with this match. She might be a loner, an outcast and a stubborn person, but she wasn't selfish, especially when it came to someone else's property, she have it back for a price.

"Point! Mark!"

"Whoa, who would have thought?" Bearmon said shocked.

"Way to go Mark!" cheered Kisho.

Time ticked by, both had two points against each other, it was the moment of truth, would Kiva allow Mark to get a point against her? Or would she take the point for herself?

Kiva could hear the shouts of encouragement from Kisho and Gaomon; she was very impressed by his encouragement.

Mark struck at her again aiming for her forearms, Kiva went to block but instead changed up her game plan and went to strike another area on Mark, giving him the open to her for a point.

"Winner! Mark Chikamatsu!"

Kiva took out the box with the symbol (crest) inside. Mark opened the box where the light surrounded the area in a dark grey as the crest slid into his tag fitting perfectly.

"I don't get it, if she was fighting for real she would never allowed him to win," Yukito questioned as Kiva and Mark came back to the group.

"I could of beaten him easily, but it's his crest and Kisho was watching. So I let Mark beat me, for Kisho's sake of seeing his older brother as a winner. Besides Kisho was cheering for Mark, and I didn't want to disappoint him. So I let Mark win," Kiva explained.

"Amazing job Mark, I thought you weren't going to win, but you proved me wrong," Kisho said happily.

"Kiva, congratulations once again on the win. You were excellent. I hope to see you again next time," Kotemon said holding out his hand.

"Thank you very much. I hope to see you again too."

"Come on Kiva, we're heading out!"

Kiva headed out of the village with her new sword hanging around her waist proudly, her connection again with Puppymon and a new friends and experience.

**A/N: Hey I'm reuploading this because I am changing the crests around. So at long last the chapter everyone was expecting. A bit longer, but hey it was worth it. Just a little heads up on everything, I have officially four more days to go until Anime North, and I'll keep you posted on everything about it along the week.**


	24. Prisoner and crests

**A/N: A big time thank you to White Hunter, San Child of the wolves and ProtogirlT for your reviews, they, as always, are appreciated, truly loved these ones. Well, there are only two more chapters until the beginning of the separation.**

**Chapter 24**

**Prisoner and crests**

Another day had passed them by as the group wondered through the desert. Weariness was definitely showing in everyone. There had to be a place where they could rest, but there was no sense in complaining about it.

At the front of the group, Robert seemed to be following something on his digivice, along with a long black cord.

"Robert, we have been wandering for hours, what are we looking for?" Yumi asked in a groan and whine mixture. The heat was finally getting to her and with no shade, it was impossible for her to stay pleasant for long.

"You'll see," Robert said slyly.

"Ugh!" Yukito groaned wanting so desperately to just smack Robert up side the head.

Further and further they travelled; when Robert was determined, he was determined. He wouldn't stop until he located whatever he was searching for. A large sand mound came into view with what looked to be a medium size box.

Robert's eyes lit up at the sight; apparently he found what he was looking for. Running up the mound, Robert kept the lead with everyone behind him moaning, groaning and complaining.

"Robert, you have two seconds to spill what is going on!" Yumi called out annoyed.

"Give me a minute. Aha!"

Robert took out his laptop and placed it on top of the box as everyone gathered around him trying to figure out what in the world he was doing.

"What is it, Robert? Some sort of power generator?" James asked curiously.

"Even better," Robert said taking out his own cords attaching his computer to the box. "Etemon has hardwired the entire desert, creating an extensive computer network. My guess is that this is one of his remote data excess terminals."

"How…very fascinating," Yumi said bored. "How fast can we destroy it?" she asked circling it like a hawk.

"It could be a trap, this looks way too convenient to me," Victoria answered looking behind her shoulder.

"If it truly is Etemon's, I say we cross the wires and mess it up good," suggested Mark as Robert took out a cord from the terminal and placed it in his computer.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked Tentomon hovering over Robert who was typing on his keyboard.

"I wonder it's entirely possible that our computers have compatible systems. And if they do I can tap into Etemon's network."

"There he does again," Yumi sighed sitting on the ground hunched over covering as much as she could of herself.

"Hey, you have mail," Kisho said staring at the screen.

"Huh? That was quick. Who knows I've logged on?"

"It's probably all the emails you've neglected to check since we left," Yukito retorted matter-of-factly.

"Only the one?"

"It's probably just junk, open it," James said.

"Right," Robert sighed rolling his eyes.

"Help me! S.O.S! Mayday! I'm being held prisoner. Help me escape and I will guide you to the crest you seek," a voice said on the computer.

"Do you think he's for real?" Tora asked. "I mean who could it be?"

Far from where the digidestined stood, Etemon's trailer zipped across the desert. Inside, Etemon was having his usual freak out.

"What do you mean the system is down? I don't want to hear any excuses, I want those stinkin' kids located now!" shouted Etemon.

"Yes, oh Mighty Etemon, sir! Most majestic, royal one," one Gazimon said sucking up.

"The problem is, we have a glitch at the pyramid host computer," replied another Gazimon.

"Datamon! Get me there in a hurry you floppy ear little freaks! Let's roll!" Etemon commanded.

Back with the group, the seventeen made their way to cliffs all around them. They were a little more protected, rather than being out in the open.

"So, we're following a mystery voice for what again?" Yukito asked strolling next to Robert.

"Someone specifically asked for **our** help. We have to at least check it out, right?"

"That and he said he could help locate the crest we seek," commented Yumi slightly soft spoken. It was a mixture of tired and giving up on the whole ordeal.

"Whose crests are left?"

"Kisho and Yumi's," replied Victoria.

"Well, according to my laptop, we should be getting close," Robert said, trying to be optimistic.

"Hey, look!" Kisho gasped looking at his tag to see it glow.

"It's glowing!"

"Kisho! Come over here! Look what I've found!" Labramon barked in excitement.

The gang ran behind Kisho, who held up his tag following the signal, he was right behind a very energetic Labramon. An image appeared on the wall, there was a white S in the middle of a green blob. The glow began to affect the image as well, causing it to shrink into a small size. It fit perfectly into Kisho's tag slot making him admire it for some time.

"Another crest?" exclaimed Yumi; the realization was dawning on her fast. Hers was the only one to be found and she still had yet to find her digimon.

"Cool, my own crest," Kisho said, trying his hardest to keep his excitement from his voice, but it still rang clear.

"Congratulations!" Labramon said happily.

"Ha! One more to go! I doubt I'll ever receive one," Yumi muttered desperately.

"Yumi, I'm sure who ever sent the email knows where your crest is," Victoria said trying to make her friend feel better.

"You can't keep looking on the dark side of things; we all know where that leads you too!" Renamon said sternly.

"Yumi's is the last one to find. Maybe if we rescue this guy, he could lead us to it," Robert announced.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe I don't truly deserve this," Yumi sulked.

Renamon cuffed her upside the head causing her to duck. "Ow! The hell was that for?"

"I told you, no depress talk!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? To the rescue!" James said trying to lighten the mood.

"Stop being so overly optimistically!" Victoria warned.

"Someone has to be. You three are way too quiet."

"What's that?" Tora gasped to the gaping opening. Inside seemed to be different than more caves.

Yumi, Victoria and Kiva stubbornly stood outside refusing to enter along with the others. Bearmon, Yukito and Gaomon seemed to not give the girls an option of staying outside.

"Hey! Let go! Ren! Release me this instant!" shouted Victoria fighting with her partner.

"Come on, you three are going in!" Yukito grunted pulling at Yumi's folded arms in a defeated manner.

"Let go of me!"

Gaomon was the only one to be having a staring contest with Kiva. He was the only one brave enough to drag Kiva in, Puppymon refused to leave her side and agree on the whole thing of not going inside.

"Try and your dead," Puppymon and Kiva threatened deadly. Kiva was giving the death glare that seemed to be completely ignored by Gaomon.

"We could do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Try your best!" challenged Puppymon.

Gaomon ran behind Kiva, thinking he could push her inside. Puppymon lunged at him knocking the blue dog digimon to the ground. Puppymon growled threateningly, daring Gaomon to make a move.

Naturally, like his partner, Gaomon refused to give up and tried again and again. Finally Puppymon had to pin him to the ground, teeth bared.

"You don't learn do you?"

"Renamon! Put me down!" screamed Victoria struggling in Renamon's grip.

Yukito appeared to have wrestled Yumi to the ground after a moment of confrontation.

"This isn't right! I should be the one to pin you!"

"Go in peacefully?"

"No!"

"All right," Yukito simply said applying pressure to Yumi's arm as he twisted it. At first, Yumi wasn't reacting, she was use to this kind of trick, but when Yukito managed to twist it hard enough, she let out a shriek unknown to her own ears.

"I give, I give. Shit!"

Yukito had a satisfied grin on his face as he helped her up and took her into the cave while Renamon carried Victoria and 'pushed' Kiva along the way while Gaomon continued to attack Puppymon all the way into the cave.

Robert as always seemed to be engulfed by what he saw on the walls. This place was all too familiar to her; she wanted to run as far away as possible.

"See those hieroglyphs? Look familiar? This is definitely the same writing we have come across before. Wait a second, this is a new one," Robert said absently staring at the writing. Yumi slid down the wall from boredom, as she did you; some of the black ink got rubbed off causing the lights to turn on.

"Great job Yumi, you found the light switch," James said.

"Shut up."

"This is amazing. Do you know what I'm thinking?"

"That if you dare go back into your explanation mode, I might have to hurt you?" Yumi answered sarcastically.

"Someone's bitchy," Tora said in a sing song voice.

"Somebody needs to learn to shut up," Yumi responded, in a mocking sing song voice.

"Well you see it's quite possible that these hieroglyphs are not a form of writing at all. But rather a code, a computer code. If you change a piece of the code than you change the program," Robert explained touching another code causing another wall to disappear.

Yumi, still sitting on the ground, stared at Yukito, Victoria and Kiva in an are-you-kidding-me? Look. Mumbling she added. "We use the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes and complete the codes." Obviously, she was in a mocking mode that day and every right to it.

"So, what your saying is that this place is just some kind of giant computer game and none of this is real?" James asked.

"Please stop asking questions," Yumi begged still under the watchful eye of Renamon.

"Oh, it's real all right. You know, I'm thinking that everything we've seen and everybody we met in this place are actually pieces of data program giving physical form."

"Right and none of the action and attacks we occurred aren't real either? How do you explain Kiva's wounds?"

"These are real!"

Yumi narrowed her eyes to slits, she was really getting frustrated by this time and it really showed. A few of them, mainly Victoria, Kiva and Yukito realized that she was fed up with everything with being the last one to locate her crest and the only one still without a digimon.

The others just thought that she was being a total bitch to Robert for shooting down all his theories.

Robert looked upset and taken aback by the snappish attitude. He realized that she was hurt for missing out on everything and that the heat was getting to her. This was the only time she could vent her frustration, no matter how angry she was.

"Okay, I think it'll be wise for us to just calm down here. There is no need to get lippy. Robert, your theories are really farfetched. Right now though, that is not our main concern. Our concern is locating this person."

"He's right. So, Robert, where is our pen pal any way?" asked Mark.

"That's just the thing, he's in both. But I can locate him on my computer by typing his email and hooking it up with the network," Robert replied quickly changing with mind from a big rant he had prepared.

"More time spent of the blasted computer. Can we please just…?"

"Look, a door!" exclaimed Tora.

"Sweetness, last one through is a rotten egg!" James exclaimed childishly.

"Our electronic pen pal is right out there."

"It's probably a trap set by Etemon," Yumi replied annoyed.

"Nonsense, we're just bit…"

"Bring it up Robert and it'll be the last thing you ever say again."

"Got it, lips are sealed."

One by one everyone jumped from the sphinx to the ground below. Landing gracefully to the ground. Yumi and Victoria were lying on the mound of sand out looking the ground below to see Etemon storm toward what appeared to be an upside down pyramid.

"Shit! Guys, look up ahead! Etemon at nine o'clock!"

Etemon was furious and he was determined to destroy anything in his way. "That's it, it's the dumpster for you Datamon, you old pile of junk."

Later on that night, Kiva and Puppymon stood outside the sphinx in the canyon staring endlessly at the cliffs.

Behind them Yumi exited the sphinx and headed to her friends. "Kiva, you're relieved now."

"Are you sure you want to take over? We're more than capable of staying up the rest of the shift if you want," suggested a very exhausted Puppymon who seemed to be in denial of how tired he was.

"Don't worry about it. I need to clear my mind any way."

"Yumi, don't lie to yourself, especially to me please. What's on your mind?" Kiva asked through Puppymon.

"It's just all this bull that I'm the only one without a digimon and destined to be the last one to get a crest. Is fate truly trying to prevent me from being part of the group?"

"Listen to me, fate is not preventing you from being part of the group; you are as much a part of the group as the rest of us."

"Your right, I guess with all the heat and everything else on top of it, it's getting too much."

Kiva and Puppymon left a very thoughtful Yumi alone in her own thoughts, she still couldn't get over the fact that something was missing from herself.

Morning arrived way too quickly for Yumi's liking. Robert was already awake and talking with her away from the others.

"Remember, no matter what happens in there, we have to be completely careful. We have already seen what has occurred when we get hurt. I know you don't want to deal with the whole nonsense, but it's true. Please just take in affect as if it were a shadow world, and that not only you were getting affected, but your true self."

"Robert, I'll be fine, you know I can take care of myself. Also, we are not in the Matrix here."

"Hey, some time this year! You guys talk more than my mom's book club," complained James. "Can we go?"

"Coming, coming. Gods!"

"I got into the program and found a most direct route to the centre of the pyramid," Robert explained as he ran to catch up.

"Remember, we are only going in and out. We're just going to find this guy and get Yumi's crest right?" Victoria confirmed.

"Yes, yes."

"As long as you got that clear. Mark, Tora, Kisho, James, stay here and stand guard. We shouldn't be too long," Victoria ordered jumping to the ground.

"Be careful!" Tora called.

"Come back soon!" Kisho and Labramon called out waving.

Yumi, Victoria, Yukito, Kiva and Robert along with their digimon carefully made their way from the sphinx to a mound of sand.

"Keep low," Victoria instructed in a whisper watching the Gazimon standing guard. Nothing else seemed to be in their way. "Keep together."

The five ran toward the sphinx with Robert holding on to his laptop focusing on the screen.

"There's a hidden back door to the program we can use to get in. It should be somewhere up ahead," Robert explained once they reached the pyramid. There seemed to be a blockade. "That's funny, it should be right here."

On the other side of the pyramid, Etemon came out stretching as he called out, "Where's my friend banana sandwich? You know I like to eat after my nap!"

"Oh shit, Etemon!" Yumi hiss, a little louder than she intended.

"What? Whose there?" Etemon growled turning around.

Yumi flung herself to the wall, followed by the others who got the hint pretty quickly. Their hearts raced with fear as they waited for their doom.

Etemon got closer to the side of the pyramid ready to attack whoever was there. To his surprise (and dismay) there was nothing. He narrowed his eyes to slits behind his sunglasses with great annoyance.

"That was a close one," Victoria sighed with relief inside the pyramid.

"No more sneak attacks like that again, please," Yukito sighed.

"Where now?" Penguinmon asked.

"We need to find away through these walls, the trick is finding the weak point."

"That shouldn't be too hard," scoffed Yumi rolling her eyes.

The nine headed down the passage leading toward the stairs going to the lower level. Yumi kept her eyes focused on the destination ahead, all she wanted to do was find this person or digimon, get her crest and get out of there, no fuss.

At the end of the stairs, a weak spot on the wall appeared; Yumi strolled over to it a little too confidently.

"Apparently we found a see through wall."

Robert stared at his computer checking the security. "Yeah, here it is. It's another breech in the system."

Yumi started to move forward ready to pass through the wall, completely unaware of the fact that they were about to have company.

"Gazimon," breathed Penguinmon and Puppymon.

Yumi didn't hear, or if she did, she refused to hear them. Just as she put her foot through the wall, two Gazimon started to stride toward them. Renamon acted quickly, grabbing Yumi under the arms and dragging her back into the other room.

"Keep quiet."

Yumi remained still in Renamon's grasp as she stared at the wall as the two Gazimon passed by them discussing something, ignoring them completely. As soon as they were far enough ahead of the group, Yumi narrowed her eyes in a mischievous way. Struggling out of Renamon's grasped Yumi carefully stepped through the barrier stomping down on one of the Gazimon's tail and quickly slipped back as the two Gazimon started to beat each other up.

"Let's go," whispered Renamon after cuffing Yumi upside the head.

The others followed closely behind letting out a sigh of relief. Victoria ran up to Yumi making sure she was okay as well as ready to tell her off.

"You have some major issues girl," Victoria chided.

"Made my day."

The hallway was long, if it weren't for friends, there would be no way of surviving the distance alone.

At the end of the hall was a long fence, humming of electricity could be heard from the fence itself. Tentomon flew over to get a better look at it.

"This looks nasty. We don't have to go through it, do we?" Tentomon asked uneasy.

"This firewall is the systems last line of defence. There appears to be only one safe way though."

"And if we pick the wrong way, they'll be picking us up with a spatula," shuddered Yukito.

"We can't have any fear Yukito. I'm sure we can get through it," Penguinmon assured.

Yumi made her way toward the fence to get a closer took, although there wasn't much to look at. She just felt a little bit on the dare devil side and challenge fate. Robert sauntered in front of Yumi and pointed to a spot on the fence.

"The weak point should be here," Robert assumed.

"Let's see who this person or digimon is so we can get out of here," Yumi replied leisurely strolling through the fence with no care.

"Yumi!" shrieked Victoria freaked.

"Is she insane?" Penguinmon gasped.

"You guys are coming right?" Yumi wondered lazily poking her head through the fence.

The others went through the wall stunned and shocked at her carelessness. No one bothered to say anything to her.

On the other side looked like a large computer room, beeps could be heard throughout the entire room.

'_Great, Robert is going to have a field day in here,' _thought Yumi.

"This is the hosts

"Holy hell," breathed Victoria staring in awe of the room.

Up ahead, inside a glass care resembling the pyramid they were in, was a small robotic like digimon. His back was toward them hiding his face.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yumi asked pointing. The digimon turned around to face them. He had two style eyes. One was yellow, that seemed to be blinking red at the moment, and the other was a normal style eye.

"I heard of him, that's Datamon, he's a super intelligent robotic digimon. He went missing some time ago and no one ever knew what happened to him," Tentomon analyzed.

"So do you think the walking robotic trash can, can help locate my crest?" Yumi enquired

"A touchy one, hmm? An attitude like that won't get you far," Datamon chastised inside of Robert's laptop.

"You are in no position to dictate me about attitude, at least I'm not the one in a glass prison," Yumi fumed.

"I am not about to argue with a mere child, like yourself. Today however, is your lucky day!"

"I get it. He's communicating with us through the infrared port on my laptop."

"Oh a hardware man. Well, listen, we haven't much time. Long, long ago, I fought Etemon and lost, one of my rare miscalculations. Anyway, I was severely damaged and he imprisoned me here and forced me to act as his webmaster, administrating his network. Without Etemon knowing, however, I was able to slowly repair myself, restoring my capabilities bit by bit over the years. Eventually, I gained control over Etemon's network, not total control but enough to bring some misery to that blabbering baboon. At last, I'm ready to free myself, but I need **your** help to break the cyber lock," Datamon explained.

"So, what about **my** crest? You said in your message, you could lead us to it," Yumi glowered.

"Um…yes…whatever you want. Just please, help me out of here!"

"I don't think we can trust him. What do you guys think?" Victoria imposed sullenly.

"Etemon's your enemy as well as mine."

"Fine, what do you need from us?" Yukito piped up defeated.

"I'm transmitting instructions for disengaging the cyber lock."

Robert headed over to the wall with his laptop in front of him as the instructions came up clear.

"Push that lever for me, would you Yukito?" Robert called.

"Yeah sure," Yukito answered running over to the lever that in the up position. Using all his strength, he pulled it down, causing a piece of the wall to open up revealing a red button and a dial seen on a safe.

"All right, that's right three, left five."

"Quickly, quickly, before Etemon returns!" cried Datamon desperately.

"Don't worry you're little head off, Robert will have you out soon enough," Yumi replied eerily calm.

Yumi was strolling toward the glass case; she did not want Datamon to pull a fast one on them, especially with her crest in the balance of things.

Victoria and Kiva were on either side of Yumi, staring at the walls. Both felt like body guards to her.

"And push the red button. Okay Yukito, pull the level back to its original position, that should be the last step in the process."

"Hold it!" yelled Etemon.

"Oh great, Etemon!" Yumi groaned.

"I've been watching you on the surveillance cameras and you're an annoying little brat, you know that?"

"Punk kids," one Gazimon said.

"Trouble maker," said another.

"Truly was my pleasure," Yumi snickered with a slight bow.

"Why don't you just call him ugly too?" Yukito shot over to her.

"Don't have to, you just did."

"All this time, I thought it was those snot nose kids that were causing my network to go on the brink. But it was **you**, wasn't it, you digital dumpster!" Etemon roared referring to Datamon.

"In a word, yes," Datamon replied slightly remorsefully.

"You rat!" Etemon growled now charging toward Yukito and Robert.

"Digimon, help out!" yelled Renamon acting quickly. "Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon!"

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Out of the way!" yelled Etemon easily taking out Dolphmon and Kabuterimon knocking them into each other. Kyubimon and Wolfmon lunged at him attacking from either side, only to have him leap into the air, grab hold of either of their necks and smashed them together.

"Kyubimon!"

'_Wolfmon!'_

Yukito lifted the lever up while Etemon was distracted freeing Datamon from his glass prison. The triangle shapes lifted away into the air. "I'm free! Now let's see how you like it!"

"Huh?"

Datamon caused the glass to fly toward Etemon and to any of those in his way. "Wee! Hahaha!"

Yumi turned at the last second to see a glass triangle smash into her. Beside her two Gazimon got hit too. Etemon blocked his face from the impact as Yumi hit the wall, blood spilling from the cuts on her cheeks, arms and chest.

"Yumi! No!" screamed Victoria and Yukito horrified. Kiva stared horror stricken as she mentally yelled at her friend.

"Hey, we set you free!" Yukito yelled at Datamon.

"And I do appreciate it you chump!"

"Dumb kids. You think by now, they'll learn to trust no one," Etemon laughed.

"Trust me, this will hurt!" Datamon simply said holding out his hand as little nano style bots came out.

"Dark network!" yelled Etemon forming a dark energy ball in his hand sending to block the attack.

Outside back at the sphinx, Gaomon looked out to inspect the pyramid after hearing an explosion.

"Uh oh! Mark!"

"Ugh, so much for no fighting."

"Yumi! I have to get to Yumi!" Victoria struggled in Yukito's arms as she stared at the unconscious Yumi.

Datamon slammed hard against the wall where Yumi was trying to regain consciousness.

"Tough luck, looks like I've won again," laughed Etemon triumphantly.

"It's not over yet, monkey breath," Datamon replied wrapping his arms around Yumi's waist. "Just wait, with her powers harnessed to my own, I'll be more than a match for you! Ha!" Datamon rose to the air taking Yumi with him through the door.

"Come back here you bratty little…"

Etemon went to advance to the doorway but was stopped by Kabuterimon, Kyubimon, Wolfmon and Dolphmon. It gave the teenagers the chance to escape back to the fire wall.

"Yumi!" shouted Victoria scared.

"Victoria!" screamed Yumi.

"They're gone back out through the firewall," Robert said as Victoria charged toward the fence not caring about a little electrocution.

"Weak point was right here, right?" Victoria demanded stepping forward ready to dive through.

"Victoria! Wait a minutes, let me get back on line so I can find it," Robert called trying to stop her.

"We don't have time for that Robert. What could ultimately happen?"

"Victoria, don't be a hero now!"

Victoria stepped forward again causing Yukito to grab hold of her forcing her to struggle in his grasp again. She cursed like there was no tomorrow as she fought every moment.

"We need to get her back! We can't leave her!" shouted Victoria, her voice strained as she forced her body toward the fence.

"Just calm down!" Yukito urged.

Behind the teenagers, the brick wall collapsed as four exhausted digimon lay underneath the rubble.

"Sorry, we held him off as long as we could," Puppymon gasped weakly.

"Now to finish you kids and put an end to your annoying little interference!" Etemon growled stepping over the digimon toward the teens. Another crash soon was made as Sunflowmon and Gaogamon came crashing through. "Wha?"

"Solar beam!"

"Spiral blow!"

"Come on, let's move! Victoria! What's wrong with you?" Mark asked staring at a very pale Victoria. "Come on!" Mark grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the pyramid.

"No, not again. They didn't get away again. I'm having an extremely bad day baby."

At the sphinx, Victoria was sitting on the ground with her knees to her chest. She was still in her shock stance. How could she have allowed that creep to take her friend like that? She was mentally beating herself up, to the extent that she couldn't think straight. Kiva sat next to her to give her a bit of comfort, while Renamon and Puppymon lay on the ground trying to regain their strength.

"I don't get it, when the creep grabbed Yumi, why didn't you go through the firewall after them?" Mark asked trying to make sense of everything.

"I can't believe she's gone!" Victoria mumbled her hands running through her hair as she put pressure on her skull in an agony way.

"You can't beat yourself up. It's not your fault. We're all in this together, Tori. We'll find a way to get her back," Yukito assured.

"I'm sorry Yumi, I'm sorry." Tears rolled down her cheeks as her emotions finally broke free of their bonds.

"We'll get her back."

"You don't understand she's like my sister! We have never been pulled apart before. We have always known where each other are."

**A/N: Bit of an emotional end. So, now it's down to Yumi to get her crest. But the question remains, will the others succeed in finding her? Or will she be doomed to whatever Datamon has in store for her? Just hoping I did justice to this chapter. Oh btw, Anime North was amazing, if anyone wants to see pictures I'll post a link.**


	25. Welcome, Taomon!

**A/N: Firstly, I would like to thank San Child of the wolves, White hunter and ProtogirlT for their reviews, greatly appreciated. Secondly, here is the final chapter dealing with Etemon. I actually got this done a little faster than normal. Finished writing this on Monday, published on Tuesday, woo hoo!**

**Chapter 25**

**Welcome, Taomon!**

The group felt split at the moment, Robert sat within the sphinx typing on his computer trying to find another answer as to where Yumi was. Outside, James, Mark and Yukito were sitting around the campfire talking. Victoria and Kiva distanced themselves from the rest of the group; Victoria still beat herself up over not getting Yumi. Tentomon filled in Mark, James and Tora on the whole fiasco.

"When Datamon was unable to get his revenge on Etemon, he kidnapped Yumi and took off," finished Tentomon.

"Now the problem is the fact of where he could have taken her, it is impossible to know where to start looking," Yukito said sadly.

"I should never have let her out of my sight. What is wrong with me? Who is to say Datamon isn't going to try something to hurt Yumi, while we just sit on out asses?" Victoria panicked, resting against the cliff hidden in the shadows with Kiva. She refused to touch the food in front of her.

"Victoria, he's beaten out brains out once, what makes you think he won't do it again? We need to come up with a plan before we go anywhere," Mark tried to reason.

"The longer we wait, the worse the situation," Victoria cried out angrily ready to lunge.

Kiva grabbed hold of Victoria's shoulders to bring her back to a sitting position. Victoria shot her a look of hatred, only to have Kiva glare at her with her golden brown eyes staring her down threateningly. The glares were intense; it was anyone's guess who would win.

Closer to the sphinx sat Kisho and all the digimon. He sat cross legged holding on both his crest and the wolf pendent. He stared blankly into the fire just as Yumi and Victoria did on so many occasions. Labramon rested his head on Kisho's lap staring at the necklaces.

Renamon as usual was in a meditative position to clear her head. All the torment that Victoria was going through, plus the loss of Yumi was truly getting to her.

Puppymon lay restless on the ground; he wanted more than ever to go out and search for Yumi and get rid of Etemon once and for all.

"We should get some rest. Maybe we could figure out a plan in the morning," Kisho muttered still in a trance.

"For Victoria's sake, I hope so, she is losing it," Renamon muttered opening her eyes.

"I know Yumi is safe. She is a strong girl, we have to have faith," Puppymon replied.

Victoria let out another sigh as she stood up and began pacing around the campfire. Her mind still buzzed with thoughts of Yumi and how they could rescue her. She couldn't drop the fact that it wasn't her fault.

"Victoria, you need to calm down, your putting all of us on edge," ordered James turning to face her.

"I can't. I'm worried about her."

"Explain to me again why exactly you two are like sisters?" Tora asked curiously.

"We've grown up together ever since we were little, probably no older than a few months. We've known each others problems, how exactly to deal with our parents, mainly hers over mine. We've always had a system working for us that if we ever, **ever** needed a place to crash because our family was driving us all crazy, or a fight would break out, we could sneak into each others places. We know each others secrets, pasts, we're like an open book," Victoria explained crouching down.

"Do you two know what the other is thinking?" James asked in a smart ass tone.

"Surprisingly, yes, we can. We can finish off each others sentences. The teachers found it annoying at school."

"Hey, I've got it! I know where Yumi is!" shouted Robert.

Victoria bolted up from her spot and scrambled into the sphinx wanting so desperately to find clues. The others all rushed in after Victoria, excited about finding Yumi. Kisho and the digimon seemed to have wakened up hearing the commotion and joined the group inside. Inside above Robert was a large projection screen showing the upside down pyramid, with another right side up pyramid underneath it. A red square appeared on the bottom pyramid, a black circle was around the red square.

"I believe Datamon only pretended to take her away, when in reality they've been right here the whole time."

"You have to be kidding me! She was in there the entire time?" Victoria screamed surprised.

"Yes, I've discovered that way down below the pyramids, there's a secret room and I just know that's where he's holding Yumi. He's found the perfect hiding place, right under Etemon's nose.

"One place he'll never expect," Yukito mused.

"Find a way in, Robert! I don't care what I've got to do; I'm going to find that room! I'm bringing back my **sister!**" Victoria fumed staring at the red square.

"Victoria, you are not going in there alone, we're coming with you."

"I'm not staying behind this time," Kisho announced.

"All right. Let's go find Yumi."

The world was still black to Yumi as she struggled to open her eyes, a pounding sensation could be felt in her head. The slam into the wall still hurt her body.

As her eyes fluttered urging to open, a black shadow seemed to appear to her. It was an outline of a figure she was not familiar with. The figure didn't seem to be dangerous; it almost appeared to be friendly, like it wanted her to trust it. Yumi had a good feeling about the shadow figure; she tried so desperately to hold on to the figure.

'_Am I truly dreaming?'_ Yumi thought as the figure began to fade away. _'Please don't leave me!'_

Her eyes opened wide, her pupils dilating as she focused on the lights. "Where am I?" shouted Yumi frustrated.

"Don't be alarmed, my dear. This is going to be all over soon."

"What do you want with me?" Yumi demanded.

"Just remain calm."

A large scanner moved down the table over top of Yumi. Yumi struggled under the shackles.

"Get me **off** this thing! There is nothing you can get from me!"

"We're just getting started."

"Arg! Let me go!" Yumi struggled. "Oh shit, what's going on over there?"

On the other side of the room was an identical table like the one she was on, with a matching scanner. As the scanner moved up, part of Yumi was created on the other table, starting with the creation of the red and black boots.

"Relax; I'm just making a copy of you."

"Wha? No fucking way!"

"You'll see I believe the power that is harnessed in this fancy digivice you possess, my dear, doesn't just affect the digimon you are destined with."

"Look here you freak! If you haven't figured it out by now, I don't have a digimon! So all those ideas you have going up there in that head of yours, forget them!"

"Oh my dear, I know of you digimon you seek, I know exactly where he is and who he is."

"You bastard! Tell me who it is!" screamed Yumi raising her body up as much as she could.

More of the copied Yumi's legs were created, more of the black and red strips and part of the red pleated frill fabric. Everything was silent between the two of them, Datamon refused to tell her anymore.

"Fuck you, what are you not telling me?"

A mechanical arm appeared by Datamon placing Yumi's crest inside her tag. The crest was purple, the image was a Y shape, but with some alterations, the top half was what appeared to be a heart shape with out the tips touching, they had spiralled inward. The end half split off with two lines curling inward while the bottom had three points.

"I can't believe this is happening to me."

"When I fought the beast before, Etemon destroyed all of my memory circuits except for those of the fight," explained Datamon. "From that moment on, I vowed I'd have my revenge, and I will have it - with the help of your digivice. But enough of this small talk, my dear. The moment of truth has arrived!"

Outside of the pyramid, hordes of Monochromon and Tyrannomon patrolled the grounds protecting the pyramid, ready for an attack from the digidestineds. Tentomon flew high above the scene with a camera attached to him filming the outside. Inside the sphinx, the group was staring at the feedback that Tentomon was filming.

"With so many digimon surrounding the pyramid like this, there is just no way we can get in there without seeing us," Robert sighed.

"That's exactly why we're going to be acting as decoys," Mark replied.

Tentomon soon flew back into the sphinx resting on the ground next to Puppymon and Gaomon.

Yukito pointed to a spot on the map before turning to face Victoria, who at the moment was getting edgy.

"Remember Tori, when the enemy starts chasing after us, you and Renamon have got to get inside the pyramid quickly, without being seen by anyone. Got it?"

"Got it. You have directions for me, don't you?"

"Yes, just one more thing."

"Enough with the 'one more thing.'"

"To enter the secret room, you have to take a hidden passage. But there's another electrified wall to get past, just like the room Datamon was in."

"I don't care about the wall. We need to do this!"

"Please don't do anything stupid, and stay out of trouble as much as possible, Victoria. Remember, the important thing is saving Yumi," Yukito pleased.

"Me? Do anything stupid? Ha!"

"You guys try not to do anything stupid either, James. If you run into Etemon, just turn around and run the other way."

"Understood."

"For this plan to work, everyone has to get their part exactly right. Kiva, I wish you luck," Victoria said.

"Same goes for you as well. Just bring her back safely."

The group climbed out of the sphinx's mouth to the ground below. Quickly looking around the sixteen headed to their spots where they needed to be. James opposite the pyramid lying on his back listening closely to the noises while Bearmon kept watch. Behind rocks, Mark, Gaomon, Kiva and Puppymon stayed hidden waiting for the right moment. While Victoria, Yukito, Robert, Kisho, Tora and their digimon went over to the sand dune lying behind it looking out at the open area.

"They're coming out of the pyramid," Bearmon hissed.

"Take cover, everyone!" instructed Victoria.

Tora threw a blanket over the remaining nine hiding them from view. Underneath the blanket, everyone huddled together to accommodate everyone.

"Thanks, Tora! Now get down," instructed Victoria.

Tora crawled underneath the blanket, joining the others. Their eyes scanned the area to see hordes of digimon form outside the pyramid.

In minutes, Grizzlymon began to send out strong beams toward the pyramid while James remained hidden behind the dune waiting for the right moment.

"Crescent beam!"

A strong beam of light flashed toward the pyramid. Inside the pyramid the Gazimon went into a world of panic as they stared at the monitor.

"Holy crap! Get under the desks!" screamed a Gazimon.

On the screen multitude of beams flashed brightly across the screen bombarding everything in sight.

"Oh, crap!"

The pyramid was taken a full out punishment from the attack. Grizzlymon was not giving up on the attack. Inside the pyramid, Etemon ran into the control room wearing a bathrobe, which he quickly discarded seeing the screen.

"What's going on here?" Etemon demanded.

"Grizzlymon is bombing us, sir!"

"Well, bomb him back!"

Outside, James stayed on the ground watching the hordes of Tyrannomon and Monochromon charge toward them. He was breathing heavily as he saw them make their way over.

"Keep cool, keep cool," James repeated silently to himself.

More and more Tyrannomon and Monochromon came stampeding toward them, anger raging inside. Grizzlymon sent out one more beam leaving the other digimon in the dust, but they were still gaining.

"Screw it, Grizzlymon, run!" James ordered as he ran over to his digimon and hopping on to his back.

Behind the enemy hordes, Mark and Kiva sat on Gaogamon and Wolfmon ready for a sneak attack.

"Let's do it Gaogamon!"

'_Show them what you're made of Wolfmon!'_

"Spiral blow!"

"Wolf blast!"

The attacks hit the ground just behind the Gazimon who were running behind the larger digimon. Wolfmon growled furiously as his fur began to stand on end.

'_Keep your cool, Wolfmon,' _Kiva soothed.

"All right you clowns! Time to follow us!" called out Mark.

All the Gazimon started to follow Mark and Kiva thinking that they could take on two large wolf digimon. Inside the control room, the Gazimon and Etemon were watching the screens of the digimon going after the three digidestined digimon.

"Look boss, we did it! They're running away."

"What? I don't get it; this is where they should be attacking with everything they've got! I know they're up to something, I don't like the smell of this!"

"Boss, Datamon did something to jam up the Network and we can't find any evidence as to where the blaggard might be."

"I don't wanna see your faces again till you find him, got it?"

"But boss, wait."

"Now, don't be buggin' me with the little details, just do it!"

Etemon left the control room heading outside the pyramid toward his trailer where he jumped on top running toward the front facing the open desert.

"I'm gonna be rid of all them trouble makers today!"

Underneath the blankets, Victoria remained on her stomach watching Etemon drive away following the other three. When she knew the coast was clear, she slowly started to rise to her knees. Renamon rose up as well; her nose in the air making sure nothing else was around.

"I just hope that James, Mark and Kiva make it okay. Let's go Robert, before I get even more on edge," Victoria ordered.

"Right behind you."

"Tora, Yukito, Kisho, be safe. We'll be back!"

The four ran quickly toward the pyramid, their path complete clear. The weak point came into view causing Victoria's spirit to heighten.

"When you get to the wall, just keep running!"

"Wasn't thinking about slowing down," Victoria replied.

Their bodies passed through the weak point without any problems. Nothing seemed to be inside the pyramid to distract them. The same familiar passages came into view making things so much more easier.

Renamon noticed Victoria's speed picking up, keeping up with her own. She seen this in her partner's eyes before, it was determination that forced her forward.

"So far, so good. This is the right way, I'm sure."

Down the stairs where their next location was, fallen rocks from the previous fight blocked their progress through the pyramid. Renamon and Victoria both cursed under their breath seeing the sight.

"No!" hissed Victoria.

"The passage is blocked! What do we do now?" Renamon demanded.

"Not necessarily. Why don't we try that door over there?" suggested Robert trying to be a little optimistic.

Renamon and Victoria turned their heads toward the doorway. "It's clear, move!"

One thing the two teenagers and their digimon didn't realize was that they were being spied on by the Gazimon via hidden cameras. Only thankful thing about these certain Gazimon, none of them were overly attentive as they should be.

"Did anyone else notice anything on the middle monitor?"

"I think you're losing it again buddy."

Outside, Grizzlymon continued to blast the oncoming hordes of Tyrannomon and Monochromon as Etemon's trailer followed behind the hordes. James and his digimon didn't seem to notice right away.

"Yukito; James, Mark and Kiva need our help. Lalamon, please you have to digivolve right away!" Tora pleased desperately still looking into the distance as Yukito turned to his own digimon.

"Penguinmon, you up for a fight?"

"You know it."

Both digimon digivolved into their champion forms, Tora riding on Sunflowmon's back while Yukito stood beside Dolphmon, who seemed very out of place.

"Kisho, stay put. If we're in total desperation do you move, understood?" Yukito commanded as Dolphmon allowed him on his back.

Kisho looked over at Labramon with a slight nod, both had a plan formulating inside their heads already as to what they needed to do.

"Summon the dark network!" shouted Etemon as he threw a green energy ball completely bombing his own digimon and clearing a path for himself.

"I think it's time for us to go now!" James insisted seeing Etemon's fury.

"You've becoming a nuisance, son!"

"What do you expect? You're dealing with teenagers," smirked Kiva running toward them on Wolfmon.

"I have to admit, it's been a lot of fun toyin' with ya, but playtimes over. It's the end of the line for you two and your bear and wolf baby."

"Oh, I'm so scared. I'm shaking in my Doc Martins," Kiva snapped.

Inside the pyramids, Yumi and Datamon could feel the explosion from the battle above. Yumi's silver eyes flashed toward the ceiling in hopes that everything was going to be okay.

"You're friends are very perceptive, my dear. It seems they have already discovered that I'm holding you prisoner in this pyramid."

"What was that explosion?"

"There is a ferocious battle raging outside and several of your friends have even managed to enter the pyramid."

"Victoria," breathed Yumi.

Back in the control room, the one Gazimon rewound the tape, proving to the other Gazimon that he wasn't losing it as Victoria and Robert came on his screen.

"And you said I'm losing it."

"Fast forward."

Back outside, Grizzlymon and Wolfmon were running across the desert with Etemon right behind them.

"I hate running away," Grizzlymon growled.

"You think I like it any better?" snapped Wolfmon.

A dark energy ball exploded ahead of them forcing the four to stop in their tracks their escape was futile. Etemon ran up the sand dune full of determination blocking the four who were heading to the top as well.

"Spiral blow!"

Behind Etemon, Gaogamon leaped into the air sending out his attack, hoping for a sneak attack. Etemon leaned to the side, dodging it as the wind from the attack picked up the sand causing a dust storm.

'_I'm surrounded by idiots,'_ Kiva sighed.

Etemon turned around to face Gaogamon, only to see Sunflowmon and Dolphmon make their entrance to the battle field.

"Sunshine beam!"

A blinding light shot toward the group aiming toward Etemon. Everyone thought that she had made contact. As usual, Etemon was able to doge it, making a mockery out of the digidestined.

"This is becoming old fact."

"Pulse blast!" A powerful sound wave vibrated through the air toward Etemon, he was affected a little, but with all the rock and roll he listened, it didn't seem to bother him.

"Nothing is going to stop this loser!" Kiva and Wolfmon shouted.

"C'mon little playmates-show me the best you got!"

Kiva jumped off of Wolfmon as he bolted toward Etemon followed by Gaogamon. The two leapt toward Etemon thinking they could at least get some sort of sneak attack.

Kiva could already see the outcome before it even happened. Etemon punched Gaogamon sending him flying back to Mark while he used Wolfmon as a punching bag.

"Gaogamon!" screamed Mark as his digimon hit the ground.

'_Wolfmon! No!'_

"Labramon, I think it's time for us to join the fight," Kisho declared watching as his friends were getting their butts kicked.

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

In seconds, Kisho was on Dobermon's back rushing toward the five digidestineds and their digimon. Dobermon wanted so desperately to sink his teeth into Etemon.

Etemon now bored out of his mind with Wolfmon, now used Grizzlymon as a new punching bag, sending him into the air like he was a light weight.

'_This is so embarrassing,'_ Kiva groaned.

With no reaction from her any more, she stood there watching Grizzlymon be thrown next to Gaogamon, frustration lines hanging over her head.

"Black laser!" growled Dobermon as a beam shot past all the digimon aiming toward Etemon.

Etemon laughed as he sent out another dark network hoping to destroy the blast in the process.

"Ah, so we have a new comer. Shall we dance?"

"Kisho, are you crazy? He could easily kill you!" Mark yelled only to have it fall on deaf ears.

"Hey monkey breath, I don't think you had a chance to meet my pissed off Dobermon yet. He's not too keen on those hurting his friends."

"Hey you little pipsqueak. I don't appreciate those interfering with big people fights."

"Do you truly want a piece of me?" roared Dobermon.

"Well, if you insist! Dark network!"

"Growl realm!"

The attack was destroyed by Dobermon; this didn't even seem to faze him like Etemon thought it would.

"Oh, a real challenger, huh? Do you think you can finish me?" taunted Etemon.

"If you think you can take me."

Kisho jumped off allowing his digimon all the space he needed. He stood next to the others, feeling happy about himself that he was able to contribute to something.

"You have some nerve Kisho," Wolfmon and Kiva said.

"What can I say, I'm full of surprises."

Dobermon sped toward Etemon avoiding each attack that he sent out. He was not going to be shown up as a weakling to this new digimon.

"Show him what you're made of Dobermon!" yelled out Kisho.

"Black laser!"

"Dark network!"

Back and forth came the attacks, Dobermon was not showing any signs of backing down. Etemon on the other hand was showing complete signs of becoming tired, frustrated and irked.

'_Wolfmon, give him a hand,' _Kiva instructed.

"I think he's doing an excellent job already."

'_Trust me, I have an idea.'_

Wolfmon charged toward Dobermon who seemed to be doing a staring contest with Etemon.

"Kiva, what are you thinking?" Kisho whispered.

**Kiva: If we get Dobermon and Wolfmon to attack simultaneously, we'll be able to distract Etemon that much longer, as well as confuse the hell out of him.**

Kisho's eyes glistened with mischievous as the thought formed in his mind. "I like it."

"Dobermon, care for a hand?"

"They think I can't do it?" Dobermon asked defensively.

"Kiva's got an idea. Just go with it."

"Knowing Kiva, she'll have a way to blast him into non-existence."

"Enough talk! So I guess we're doing a tag team, hmm?"

'_Dobermon, you and Wolfmon need to send out an attack as strong as you possibly can. Don't let Etemon get away with all he has done,'_ Kisho called out telepathically.

Dobermon smirked as he felt his body tense up ready for an attack. Wolfmon did the same; he eyed Etemon like easy prey. Etemon had no clue as to what the wolf and dog like digimon had in store for him.

"Wolf blast!"

"Black laser!"

Both their attacks headed straight for Etemon, giving him no time to react. Only thing that came to his mind was duck just as the blasts were inches from him.

"Damn it!"

"So, you think that was going to stop me? Ha! Let's see how you deal with this!" Etemon took out his microphone, causing the digimon and their partners to sweat drop in dread.

"My little darling…yeah!

You think you're swell

You think you're…"

"Make it stop!" screamed Dobermon and Wolfmon.

'_Holy shit, someone shut him up!' _screamed Kiva mentally covering her ears.

"Oh no!" the others cried out defeat watching their digimon de-digivolve.

"Don't forget to tip your waitress."

"Etemon! I've discovered the whereabouts of the other children, sir - they're inside the pyramid," a Gazimon said over the headset.

"Why would they be in there? Unless Datamon's still inside the pyramid. Datamon's started that I thought! But not nearly as smart as me!"

While Etemon was in his own little world, Kiva, Yukito, Kisho, Tora, Mark, James and their digimon all take off back to the sphinx. Turning around, he noticed that his 'audience' was gone.

"Huh? Where did all those others go? What's a legend gotta do to keep an audience around here, baby? Well it doesn't matter, I'll just destroy the ones in the pyramid first and then I'll come back for the rest of them later! Uh huh huh!"

Etemon ran toward his trailer, jumped on top of it and rode off now filled with anger.

"Yeah, c'mon, move, ya good-for-nothing slow pokes!"

Kiva, Tora, Kisho, Yukito, Mark and James were back underneath the blanket watching him head back to the pyramid.

"I hope we gave Victoria and Robert enough time to get through," Kiva sighed.

"I'm sure they're with her right now," Yukito replied referring to Yumi.

Inside the pyramid looking really beat up, numerous Gazimon rushed about searching for Robert and Victoria.

"Looks like the Gazimon have **finally** realized we're here!" Victoria hissed from the safety of the invisible wall as Gazimon ran past them.

"We're so close to the room too," Robert said defeated. "I think the main passage that leads to the private entrance to Etemon's lab is located at the bottom of this stairway." Robert and Victoria were now at the doorway staring at the clear hallway.

"What are we waiting for?"

Just as Victoria went to take a step forward, Etemon crashed through the ceiling above them causing Victoria to shriek, something that was unfamiliar to her. The four ran through the invisible wall thinking and hoping that they could escape Etemon, only to have him just smash his way through.

"Oh fuck!" cursed Victoria in shock.

"Now before I cancel you like a bad sitcom, direct me to Datamon!"

"Go find Yumi! Tentomon, digivolve!"

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

Renamon reached for Yumi's hand dragging her down the corridor while they had the chance. Robert and Kabuterimon stood their ground against Etemon.

"Hold him Kabuterimon!" screamed Victoria in the distance.

"Oy!" yelled Etemon as he went to run after the girls but was stopped by Kabuterimon's horn causing Etemon to struggle to get through.

Victoria and Renamon ran down the stairs leading to another wall. Passed the wall they came face to face with another electrified fence.

"Oh damn it all to hell!" groaned Victoria steeping forward, her breathing still heavy.

"I can break it for you, Victoria."

"No, I can do it. I have to prove to myself that nothing will stop me."

"You're stubborn, but that's a good thing about you. Go for it."

Victoria took a deep breath as she got closer to the wall, her hand outstretched to a random spot in the fence. Her hand shock along with the rest of her body.

"Believe in yourself, Tori!"

Victoria forced her hand to stretch further and further, words of encouragement spinning in her head. Her crest began to glow as she rammed her hand straight through the fence without incident.

"A fake! Ha! Holy crap!"

"Now, let's go get Yumi!"

As if on cue, Etemon rolled down the stairs tangled up in Kabuterimon. Victoria and Renamon followed the crashing as their heads bobbed at each tumble. When Kabuterimon crashed finally on the ground the two turned their head slightly with pain expressions. Etemon put Kabuterimon's arms into a very uncomfortable position.

"So we meet again!"

"Renamon! Digivolve!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon! Victoria, break through and get Yumi!"

"Good luck Kyubimon!"

Victoria ran through the fence to the other side where she saw Datamon standing on his computer console, next to him was Yumi wearing a dark red midriff tank top with thin black horizontal lines running down the shirt with black lace at the bottom. The sleeves were off the shoulder starting a few inches down; lace was also on the top and bottom of the sleeves. She wore fingerless gloves with black string tied in a bow at the top of the gloves and hung loosely. The skirt was black with tiered red pleated frill fabric underneath. Something wasn't right about it however.

"Yumi?" Victoria asked uncertain stepping forward.

"You actually think this thing is me? I thought we knew each other," yelped Yumi, still shackled to the table and looking irate.

Victoria sweat dropped at the sight, she wasn't going to live this one down. "Sorry."

"Now the copy is complete! I will give her the magic Crest and she will become the new Yumi and do whatever I require of her."

The mechanical hand holding the Crest and digivice moved towards the copy.

"That's what you think, you pile of junk! No one makes my friend into a copy!" Victoria seethed bolting toward the mechanical arm grabbing both the crest and digivice and ran over to the table where Yumi lay.

"No! What do you think you're doing? I cannot permit a mere girl to foil my plans for vengeance!"

Datamon's yellow eye turned red causing the table that Yumi was tied to and a small area around it to become a huge black pit. Yumi let out a deafening scream as she fell through the hole.

"No! Yumi!" Victoria screamed grabbing hold of Yumi's hand. Yumi's eyes were filled with fear for once. Below them were black and purple mass of cables and assorted junk.

"I know this is our favourite colour, but you are not allowed to go down there!"

"That is the center of Etemon's dark power network. Anything sucked in there is lost to all elements. And I see I have to no more use for the original, I'll simply get rid of it," Datamon simply said. He walked over to the girls, Victoria lying on her stomach holding on to dear life to Yumi's forearm refusing to let go. Datamon took their arms trying to pull them apart, of course the girls refused to let go of each other.

"Arg! Kyubimon! We need you!" screamed Victoria as she held the crest and digivice in her hand ready to drop it.

"Yes, the crest is a means by which you may save the maidens life," Datamon said.

"Who are you calling maiden? Agh!"

"If you give it to me immediately!" Datamon ordered.

"Yeah? Guess what? You can tell Etemon you sob story, 'cause we're not interested!" Victoria snapped dropping the crest and digivice down to Yumi.

"Yumi, catch!" Victoria shouted as Yumi grabbed hold of her digivice and crest.

"No, wait!"

Outside the firewall, Kyubimon was airborne in a blue flame wheel aiming toward Etemon. Kabuterimon was hovering growling as he eyed Etemon with rage.

"Kyubimon! We need you!" Victoria's voice echoed from inside the room.

"Kyubimon, your partner is summoning you! Go, I'll take care of him!" Kabuterimon called out when Kyubimon jumped out of the way.

"Get him Kabuterimon!" Kyubimon shouted heading through the fence with no problem.

"It appears that no one is going to be saving you now!" taunted Datamon.

"I don't think so you pile of bolts!" Kyubimon growled.

"Kyubimon!"

"Stay away, you blasted fox! What do you think you are doing?" demanded Datamon as he watched Kyubimon running toward the girls. She leapt toward the pit aiming for the inside opposite the girls before springing back to the girls allowing them to drop on her back so she could get out with no problem.

"Those are mine!" cried out Datamon staring at the back of Kyubimon.

Outside the room, Etemon was still facing up against Kabuterimon ready to scrap him. Kyubimon jumped through the electrified fence, crushing Etemon with it's rubble as he got electrified in the process. Yumi and Victoria rode on the back of Kyubimon while Robert on the back of Kabuterimon heading to the exit of the pyramid.

"We're out!" laughed Kyubimon.

"We actually made it!"

"It is so great seeing you all again. I thought there was no chance of seeing you again," Yumi said wrapping her arms around Victoria's waist giving her a tight hug.

"It's good to see you too."

"Here come the others."

Running across the desert, crystal clear through the invisible pyramid entrance, the gang all made their way toward them. Kyubimon and Kabuterimon blasted their way through the wall to greet the warm air.

"We're over here!"

"There they are. They're safe!" cried out Kisho.

"Yumi! Victoria!" shouted Kiva and Puppymon.

Inside the control room of the pyramid, Etemon and Datamon were once again squaring off.

"Without the crest, this thing is useless to me!" Datamon waved his hand, destroying the clone of Yumi.

"Now it's time for me to dismantle you in the same way you dismantled your little playmate, you miserable pile of bolts!"

Datamon turned his head toward Etemon, his yellow eye turned red causing the floor to start moving away opening up the vortex below.

"The floor!"

Etemon realized that the floor was now opening up causing him on to the control panel. Datamon grabbed hold of Etemon's leg when the floor gave way.

"If I'm going down, you're coming with me in to the black pit! Just try these!" Datamon dropped miniature bombs into the pit and the mass of electrical wires grew stronger.

"Now, I'm going to tell you again, let go of me or I'm gonna open you up like a can 'o beans!"

"Those were computer viruses I dropped into the black pit! It'll keep growing and absorb all the dark energy of our cosmos. Including yours, fool!"

"You know I hate bugs!"

Outside, all of the Monochromon and Tyrannomon were being dragged into the pyramid forced into the black put then disintegrated in the process. Etemon struggled to keep his grip on the console, but his arms were giving out on him, eventually he too was sucked in. Datamon was the first to be sucked in; he was deleted as soon as he hit the cables. As soon as Etemon hit the cables, instead of being deleted, he just sat there as cords rose around him.

"Lemme out of here! Whoa!" Etemon yelped as cables flapped around him.

Outside, the adolescence and their digimon forced their way from the pyramid. Yukito, Robert, Mark, James and Tora were on Kabuterimon while Yumi, Victoria, Kiva and Kisho rode on Kyubimon.

"What happened back there?" asked Yukito.

"I suspect the computer blew."

"Holy crap! Look at the pyramid!" Yumi gaped.

Black and green streams of energy blasted out crumbling into nothing. Everyone's mouths dropped open seeing the sight. Throughout all the rubble a huge pile of cables rose up into the desert with Etemon actually seated on the top with several cables attached to him. He actually looked more buff than before, he laughed when he sees the children.

"All tight, lemme see a show of hands, how many actually missed me?" Etemon asked wickedly.

"No fucking way!" Yumi and Victoria gasped.

"What is with this guy?" Mark asked.

"I told you I'd come back to take my revenge on you - you didn't believe me, did you?"

"Dragon wheel!"

"Electro shocker!"

Both attacks hit the wire ball vortex and are immediately disintegrated, sand is sucked into the still-growing vortex underneath Etemon.

"Say, that was pretty good, I give it a nine-point-six! Now then, you ready for a fast ball?"

Kyubimon, Kabuterimon and the triplets sweat dropped as Etemon threw a dark network attack. It brushed past the two digimon hitting the mountains beyond. Almost instantly it 'melted' in a spiral.

"That ones heading for the sphinx!" Yukito yelped.

"The sphinx melted," Tora gasped after it too disappeared.

"Melting doesn't even describe it."

"I hate to sound like a downer here, but nothing can stop him," Yumi said outraged.

"I refuse to give into Etemon. We've come too far to surrender," Victoria fumed standing up. "Kyubimon, you coming?"

"Right behind you!"

Both run towards Etemon and his wire ball vortex of doom. Under her shirt, a midnight blue crest started to glow brightly. Her mind was set.

"What do we have here, sports fans? A new batter steps into play!"

"Yeah you jackass, and this batter is not a happy camper!"

"This could go well," sighed Yumi sweat dropping.

"Is she crazy?" Tora asked shocked.

"This is her determine!" Yumi answered.

"Come down here and fight me like a Mon, unless you're a chicken!" Victoria shouted.

"Hey, you're brave, I like that!"

Victoria held her crest up into the air as her eyes flashed dangerously. Etemon sent out another power ball hitting Kyubimon causing her to go down.

"Kyubimon, don't give up! I'm staying with you!" Victoria called running to her side. Her crest and digivice started to glow midnight blue.

"You have finally figured out how to maintain your anger. It's allowing me the strength I need to digivolve!" Kyubimon said. "Kyubimon digivolve to…" Kyubimon could feel her body begin to change. She once again was in a standing position. Her dress robes was based upon the religion Taoism and a Vicar. On her head she wore a long hat. The pants were purple while the robes were white with the yin yang symbol on the top half of the shirt with another symbol on the lower half. "Taomon!"

"Wow, so that's Kyubimon's true evolution," gasped Tora.

Etemon looked at her and laughed, was this truly the best they could offer?

"Lookie here, a fully evolved digimon! Well I can handle her too! Just watch me, kiddo!"

"Taomon?"

"It was the power of the crest."

"Taomon is well versed in divination and is superior in the ability of incantation. All her weapons are concealed under her sleeves."

"This I like," Victoria smirked. "Let's show him what your made of Taomon!"

"What is with you? Is there no end to your stupidity? Well, maybe I can put an end to it for ya!"

Etemon threw out another ball only to have Taomon throw a magical red spell paper into the air. Etemon looked at it incredulously thinking she was nuts. Until it became a spherical shield of magical energy releasing small spectral blasts. Etemon recoiled in shock realized that he was dealing with a digimon with stronger power.

"Hey, it was just a joke."

"I don't take kindly to those who view themselves to be powerful and attack those I care about."

"Finish him, we have the power to do it!"

Taomon sent out another attack hitting the ball of wires directly. Victoria smirked in determination. She could feel a glowing sensation form over Taomon as she gathered more power from the earth.

"Holy, she's glowing," breathed Yumi stunned.

"It's the crest power!"

"No! No! Don't destroy me! I've got too much talent!"

"You talk way too much, you don't deserve to live!"

"Thousand spells!" Taomon leapt high into the air with her sleeve covered arms outstretched. She started shooting thousands of magical red spell papers form them. The spell papers stuck to Etemon and the ball as a reaction of fiery explosions commenced.

"No! You must not defeat me! I'm just too important to die!"

"About ti…Taomon!" Victoria screamed as she slid down toward the still sucking vortex. Taomon wrapped her arms around her as she held her ground hoping not to go through.

"Taomon! Don't let me go!"

"I have you Victoria!"

The sucking vortex proved to be too much for Taomon to withstand. Both her and Victoria were pulled upwards toward the vortex and sucked into the swirling vortex. As soon as they were through, everything stopped. In it's way was a perfectly clear blue sky above the desert almost as if nothing had happened.

"Victoria!" screamed everyone.

"What happened to them?"

"Tori! Come back!" screamed Yumi stretching to thin air.

**A/N: There ends the reign of Etemon. We no longer have to deal with the ego maniac ever again. So Yumi finally has her crest, and she had her glimpse of her digimon, shadow only. Wait until the next chapter to find out what happens to Victoria. Peace!**


	26. A Ghostly home welcome!

**A/N: Thank you again to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for your reviews. So here is the next chapter as promised, you get to meet new characters in this, as well as understand why it was a Danny Phantom cross. Enjoy! (P.S. If you agree this should be a Digimon and Danny Phantom crossover please tell me too. I'll explain later).**

**Chapter 26**

**A Ghostly home welcome!**

**A bright light flashed in front of everyone, after Taomon hit Etemon. Everyone could barely see Victoria as they covered their eyes. A strong hold began to pull at them dragging them dangerously close to the vortex. Up a head Taomon held on to Victoria for dear life as the suction grew stronger and stronger pulling them closer. The suction was becoming more unbearable for Taomon to withstand as her and Victoria were dragged that much closer to the ever growing vortex.**

**It took a few minutes for everyone to realize what had happened. Where Taomon and Victoria once stood, now was nothing, only a blank spot in the clear desert floor.**

**A few minutes later away from the digital world, Victoria stared blurry eyed around at her surroundings. She couldn't believe where she was, it was impossible.**

"**Victoria, where are we?" Viximon asked looking around puzzled from the ground.**

"**We're…we're home, my home," Victoria stuttered stunned not even paying attention to her digimon.**

**People walked passed her as if she weren't even there. It felt strange to be back there especially being in the digital world for so long.**

"**Where do you suppose Yumi, Kiva, Puppymon and the others are?" Viximon pondered now looking around expecting to see Yumi and Kiva's faces standing right there.**

"**I'm not sure, they're still probably in the digital world, or they were sent somewhere else," Victoria mumbled her voice sounding distant. "How is this possible? Did something take us here? Or is there something else?"**

"**Victoria, are even there?"**

"**Hmm? What? You were saying something Viximon?" Victoria asked shaking her head.**

"**Oh, you worry me some times," Viximon sighed shaking her head.**

"**What? I was distracted, sorry."**

"**So what are we going to do now?" Viximon asked as Victoria picked her up in her arms.**

"**Our best bet would be to head back to my place. I need to stock up on supplies and get something in me. As well, we need to find our way back into the digital world," Victoria replied looking around at her surroundings still noticing people not paying any attention to her.**

"**Lead the way."**

**Victoria head into the trees of the grassy section of the park. There was multitude of ways to get back on the streets. This was the only way was going to be the quiet and least frequented areas.**

**Viximon couldn't help but sniff her new surroundings, she was so curious about the new world, she wanted so desperately to explore every section there was. Only problem she faced was getting Victoria to allow her the chance to explore. Victoria would not allow her to leave her sights, and for her to re-explore her home was impossible.**

"**Viximon, would you hold still please?" commanded Victoria through clenched teeth as she tightened her hold.**

**People started to cluster around either going for strolls or heading off for picnics. It was becoming a nuisance to deal with Viximon squirming in her arms.**

"**Listen to me, until we're in a more secluded area, just act like a stuff animal please," begged Victoria in Viximon's ear.**

"**Okay."**

**Victoria ignored all those around her, she knew that no one was staring at her; she was just another figure in the crowd.**

**Before the two were out of sight from those in the park, something caught Viximon's attention far ahead of them. Her eyes narrowed at this person sitting on an idling motorcycle. Her ears perked up as she became restless in her partners arms.**

"**Viximon, what has gotten into you?" Victoria asked looking down at her partner.**

"**That person over there, he doesn't appear to be like everyone else around here."**

"**Who are you…?" Victoria asked looking up. There sitting on his motorcycle was a boy in his late teen with blonde hair and emerald green eyes. He was wearing a white shirt underneath a washed out grey knee length jacket, black pants, with a grey, along with a black and green belt. On his feet were black army style boots. His attire resembled that of a rebel punk era of the eighties. His skin was really pale like it had not seen sun in years.**

**Victoria's jaw dropped open at the sight of him. Viximon stared up at her partner curiously at what she was thinking. At first Viximon thought that Victoria was in total love with him (he did look her type). But as Viximon saw the changing expression, it was someone Victoria knew and was not impressed to see.**

"**Victoria, who is that?"**

"**That…unfortunately is someone I'm going to kill when I get some answers," growled Victoria.**

**Victoria stormed over to where the biker smiled at her. He didn't appear to notice that he was going to be in serious trouble.**

"**Hey babe, I thought…"**

"**Johnny! Why aren't you with Dani right now?" demanded Victoria pissed.**

"**Don't worry babe, she's safe," the biker, Johnny replied coolly.**

"**Where is she?" Victoria demanded thinking that her cousin was sitting at a restaurant or some place.**

"**She's at home."**

"**I thought I asked you to watch over her?"**

"**Chill bade, someone IS** watching her!"

"Who?"

"Youngblood."

Popping annoyance veins formed on her head as she stared at the biker. How could he do this? How could he be so irresponsible?

~Flashback~

"Victoria, let's get a move on, you don't want to be late!" called Akima.

Victoria rolled her eyes as she slumped against her suitcase. "More than she knows. Well I guess I'll let you go and see you shortly," Victoria sighed.

"See yeah."

Victoria took off her headset and placed it on her nightstand as she pulled the suitcase and bag off her bed. Dani sat up on the bed a smile forming on her face.

"Listen to me; I want you to promise me one thing. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Clear? That means no running around; no causing mayhem. I beg of you, **don't** start scheming with Youngblood about pulling pranks. Mom and dad will obviously catch you if you do something like that."

"Yes mom. I'll be fine. Chilling out in my room will be fun for the next two weeks," Dani replied sarcastically. "Or unless I make a remarkable recovery all of a sudden and hightail it out of here and chill out in the park."

"Wow, you truly have gotten just like me."

"Just have fun at camp," Dani called out sarcastically as Victoria left her room.

"Bite me."

Victoria made her way to the hallway where her mom stood with the car keys in hand ready to leave the house. Her dad Yamato was nowhere insight, Victoria had a feeling that he was off at work.

"I'll meet you down there okay, mom?" Victoria asked slipping her boots on.

"And let you disappear?" Akima scoffed refusing to allow her daughter an ounce of distance.

"Mom, I know full well that you will hunt me down and drag me kicking and screaming to camp. I'm in no mood for a fight. Just trust me okay?"

"Fine, I'll give you ten minutes and no longer, understand?"

"Understood."

Akima left the apartment heading off to the elevator with Victoria's suitcase leaving just the carrier bag for her to take. Victoria took out her cell phone from her bag and quickly dialed a number and listened to the ringing on the other end.

"Hello, you have Johnny."

"Johnny, it's Victoria, I have a favour to ask of you. I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Dani for me while I'm away at camp. I know mom and dad will be home, but just encase something comes up. Just don't make clear to her that you are watching her," instructed Victoria.

"Yeah I got it. When are you back on?" Johnny asked.

"I think they're allowing the prisoners -ahem- the campers to leave on the thirteenth."

"Just my day."

"Oh yeah. So do we have a deal?"

"Yes we have a deal. I'll come over shortly."

Victoria disconnected the call quickly not wanting Danielle to get wind that she was going to have a guest on her hands.

As soon as Victoria hopped into the car ten minutes later a black motorcycle showed up with a young man in his late teen years with blonde hair and green eyes. Victoria caught his eye and gave a quick sharp nod. Johnny caught her eye and nodded back understanding what he had to do.

~End flashback~

"Johnny, are you kidding me? You allowed the immature ghost who, when around Dani, is a terror, especially when it comes to playing pranks?" Victoria shouted eyes narrowed down to slits and the pulsing veins all over her head.

"You worry too much. I told them not to leave the house."

"Oh good gods, when have they ever listened?"

"Victoria, who is he?" Viximon asked curiously.

"Oh, sorry Viximon. Viximon this is Johnny 13, the much laid back, punk ghost. Johnny, this is my digimon Viximon."

"You digi-what?"

"Long story. Long and short of it is she is a digital monster from this place called the digital world. I'll explain later. Where's Kitty? She never leaves your side," Victoria asked finally noticing Kitty was nowhere in sight.

"We had our differences."

"So…she dumped you."

"No, I dumped her!" yelled Johnny all defensively.

"Denial," Victoria and Viximon sighed. "Look, I have to go check on Dani, if you'll excuse me," Victoria turned away from Johnny and started to walk down the streets with Viximon still in her arms.

"Wait babe, I'll take you. Just do me one thing."

"What?"

"Explain the digital world for me."

"Ugh, this could take forever," sighed Victoria giving into the offer as she got on the back of the bike. Viximon rested between Victoria and Johnny while Victoria wrapped her arms around Johnny's waist.

"Well, you see the digital world…" Viximon let the words trail off as she allowed the wind to rush past her face. She had so many questions of her own to ask Victoria about Johnny and what exactly he was.

After some time Viximon's ears began to pick up again as a voice drifted through the streets.

"It was, it was September, Wind blows, the dead leaves fall."

The voice sounded like a young female's voice, it was filled with soul, ambition and strength. There appeared to be a lot of background to it all.

"Hey, where's that noise coming from?" Viximon asked cutting through Victoria's story.

Victoria stopped talking and listened intently to the sound that Viximon was listening to.

"Your life goes on without me,

You're wrong, now bear the same."

"Sounds like Ember McClain. She must be holding a concert somewhere close by."

"Let's go check it out."

Johnny turned down another street toward yet another park. There was a large crowd of teenagers cheering and screaming Ember's name. She seemed to be a huge hit with the crowd (who wouldn't love her? She's famous).

She wore black skin tight pants, a black midriff shirt with one sleeve. Her skin was a pale colour, matching Victoria's skin tone, her hair was light blue pulled into a high ponytail. She wore a single elbow length black glove. On her feet were grey army boots with skulls on them. She looked like someone the triplets would admire.

"Yeah! Ohh-ooohhh!It was, it was September,Wind blows, the dead leaves fall,to you, I did surrender,Two weeks, you didn't call...Your life goes on without me,my life, a losing game,but you should, you should not doubt me,you will remember my name...Oh, Ember, you will remember!Ember, one thing remains!Oh, Ember, so warm and tender!You will remember my name!Your heart, your heart abandoned,you're wrong, now bear the shame,like dead trees in cold December,Nothing, but ashes remain...Oh, Ember, you will remember!Ember, one thing remains!Ember, so warm and tender!You will remember my name!Oh-woo-oh-woo, Ember!You will remember!Ember, one thing remains!Ember, so warm and tender!You will remember my name!Yeah! You will remember my name!"

After Ember finished her song and raised her gloved arm into the sky as an evil grin formed over her face, the crowd of teenagers burst into applause and more screams. She turned her attention to the far back of the crowd where she noticed Johnny and Victoria standing beside some trees away from the crowd itself.

A large cloud of smoke engulfed the stage and Ember causing the crowd to go on a riot running forward trying to locate her.

"Lost sick puppies," snorted Victoria.

"At least me fans are always loyal," Ember commented reappearing beside Victoria without her band members.

"It is so good to see you!" Victoria exclaimed embracing the singer.

"I thought you were at camp."

"Yeah…about that. We got snow; some campers and I were sucked into the digital world where we got to meet our digimon. This is my digimon, Viximon," Victoria explained picking up Viximon again.

"Hi. Okay, you are going to explain more about the digital world and digimon right?" Ember asked.

"Yes. Just not here that's all."

"All right, let's head home," Johnny said with a smirk.

Victoria hopped on to the bike after Johnny, her arms tightly wrapped around his waist. Viximon sat in between the two feeling relatively safe in the confinement. As for Ember, she flew above them not overly concerned with those down below.

The city of Highton View Terrace zipped by quickly; Victoria stared absentmindedly at the scenery going by. She was thrilled at leaving the area once and for all, this is where all the chaos broke out with her family and being pushed around from one family to another.

Time ticked by as the three made it to Odaiba; the streets like Highton View Terrace were packed and busy. Johnny did his best to avoid as much of the traffic as possible without getting into an accident for Victoria's sake.

"We're finally here," Johnny announced pulling up to a twenty six floor apartment.

"Oh sweet heaven above. I don't think I'm going to be able to walk after this," groaned Victoria sliding off and hobbling away as the circulation refused to return.

"Are you being paranoid of Dani again?" asked Ember not understanding the full concept of Victoria's story.

"I asked Johnny to watch her, and **he's** out gallivanting around Highton View Terrace!" "You trusted **him**?" shrieked Ember.

"He was the **only** one I could get a hold of; you were busy with your concerts."

"Hey, I'm standing right here you know," Johnny said defensively.

Victoria and Ember just glared at him with hatred, daggers shooting from their eyes.

"What about Youngblood…?" Ember asked but allowed her voice to drift off as soon as she uttered the name 'Youngblood.'

"Youngblood is constantly around her anyway, and **HE** allowed him to watch over her unsupervised. Youngblood is not the one to be fully trusted alone with her. The two scheme things and it's not a pretty sight," explained Victoria.

"Do you suppose those two are still inside?" Ember asked hopefully.

"Hey, they listen to me pretty well."

"Ugh!" Victoria turned around staring up at the apartment as if it were a long lost memory she thought she never see again. Resentment washed over her as she stared up at the top floor. Something seemed to watch her eye as she lowered her head toward the doors.

A middle age man somewhere in his forties, with white hair pulled back in a low ponytail and wearing a black suit strolled out of the doors of the apartment with his hands behind his back. An air of power surrounded him.

Something about the man seemed to have freaked out Johnny and Ember. Victoria raised an eyebrow seeing their sudden change, nothing ever scared those two.

"Guys, what's going on? Who is that?"

"That is Vlad Masters, he is someone you don't want to mess with," Ember explained eyes narrowed down to slits.

Vlad seemed to have heard his name and soon turned toward Victoria, Ember, Johnny and Viximon. Not wasting any time, Ember and Johnny both turned invisible hoping to avoid Vlad. Victoria picked up Viximon preparing to stroll into the apartment like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

"Where did Ember and Johnny go?" whispered Viximon.

"They went intangible; just stay quiet for a moment."

Vlad strolled past Victoria sending an odd feeling rushing through her body. Victoria didn't like the feeling whatsoever. Vlad smirked as he continued his way down the street.

Victoria looked over her shoulder watching his retreating back as she let out a shudder. She couldn't wait to get inside where it was safe. Turning her attention back to the building, Victoria strolled toward it with Ember and Johnny at her side both were back to their physical selves.

As soon as the three were inside they made their way to the elevator. She knew that is was a long way up by the stairs, so the elevator was their only choice. When the door opened Victoria stepped inside with the two ghosts and her digimon. A sigh of relief escaped her as soon as the doors closed. She released Viximon from her grasp to stretch on the ground in the tiny space.

"That was a close one," sighed Johnny.

"What is so dangerous about him?" Viximon asked.

"He's a powerful man, not to mention a ghost. He's cunning, manipulative, you name he's all of it."

"Can things get any worse?" groaned Victoria.

The floors passed by quickly, Victoria leaned against the wall with her right foot resting on the wall. Her arms crossed in front of her chest as she waited for the doors to reopen.

When the doors finally reopened, Victoria let out a sigh as she turned her head away from the visible hallway; it was as if she didn't really want to go.

"Victoria aren't we suppose to get off now?"

"Yeah, come on," sighed Victoria forcing herself off the wall and into the hallway. Her heart became heavy as she shuffled down the hall toward her apartment. Viximon rested peacefully in her arms.

Once she got to the door, Victoria froze as she stared at the flowerbed and the plaque. The flowerbed itself was filled with red roses all in bloom filling the hall with a gorgeous fragrance. The plaque hit hard, it had her family name on it with a picture of all four of them. Around the name and the pictures were skulls, hearts, broken hearts, butterflies, stars and moons and soccer balls. The base was black, while the name was purple. The hearts were blue, purple and red. Everything else was other colours.

"Victoria are you all right?"

"I can still remember the say dad and I made this plaque together, it was five years ago. We just learned that Dani would be coming to stay with us. Dad allowed me to bring out my creative side. Mom loved planting flowers; her favourite was roses, just like me. Gods I miss those times."

"You can still have those memories; you'll never be without them."

"I guess so. I thought I never get to see this place again though."

"Why don't we see the rest of it," suggested Viximon who was getting anxious by the minute.

Victoria sighed as she lifted a shaky head to the door knob, she was nervous as it was and after getting into a fight with her mom before leaving, she didn't know what to expect. Turning the handle she noticed that the door was unlocked.

"Hey, it's opened, that a first. They must be home."

Inside revealed a small entrance way with a shoe rack on one side with a closet on the other side. Up the three stairs was a long hallway leading toward the living room. On the ground Victoria noticed three pairs of shoes sitting neatly on the ground.

"Mom? Dad? Are you home?" called Victoria as she shut the door and took off her boots while Ember and Johnny went in further to chill out in the living room.

There was no response from anyone, Victoria moved down the hall toward the large living room with two couches and a chair surrounding a long oak coffee table. A large wide screen TV sat in front of the window, something that her father purchased several months ago.

Two dogs came bounding around the corner running toward Victoria and Viximon. One of the dogs had red, grey and white fur

Around the corner from the hall was a medium size kitchen with all silver and black appliances. In in the middle of the kitchen was an island that was used for a place for eating and a space for making meals. A kitchen table was just outside the kitchen.

On the right side of the hallway a single archway leaded toward the backroom where three rooms were situated, one belonged to Victoria, the other her cousin Dani and the other a bathroom situated between the two rooms.

On the other side of the living room was another archway leading to another hallway where her parents and another bathroom was. It was a very opened spaced apartment.

Victoria headed over to the balcony to see if anyone was outside like they normally were on summer days. As usual, there was no one there. Worry filled her thinking that Dani and Youngblood left the apartment.

"I guess they went out," Viximon simply suggested.

Victoria let out a groan as she returned back into the apartment. She saw Johnny and Ember just chilling on the couch with a tawny fur coloured pug lying between them. This was not a time to be lazing around, there was too much to do.

With no warning, a pure white cat jumped off the top of a near by bookshelf landing on top of Victoria's head catching her off guard.

"Jeez Snowy! Since when did I become your new best friend?" yelped Victoria.

Ember and Johnny turned around smiling at the sight as Victoria reached up to bring the cat into her arms.

"Hey Victoria, want to introduce me to your friends here?" Viximon said.

Victoria looked over at Viximon to see her doing a staring contest with the silver and white husky. Blue eyes staring at blue and amber eyes.

"Well the one you are doing a staring contest with is Akasha, my two year old husky. The one on the couch with Ember and Johnny is Scarlett the family's pug. And this one on top of my head is Snowy, thanks to her fur you can understand why she is named that, she belongs to Dani."

Victoria made her way into the kitchen as she gently placed the white rag doll cat on the ground close to Akasha who was still sniffing at Viximon. She opened the refrigerator taking out a bottle of water and chugging it back.

"Hey, I want some too," Viximon whined nudging Victoria's leg finally getting away from Akasha, who was now sniffing around the living room.

"Don't worry I saved you half," Victoria replied putting the water on the kitchen island and picked Viximon up to place her on the island too. Viximon tipped the bottle back allowing the cold liquid to go down her throat.

"Water never tasted so good."

Muffled laughter could be heard behind one of the doors down the hall by the entrance way. Viximon stopped drinking; Victoria, Johnny and Ember turned their attention toward the arch way leading to the back hallway. Stepping out of the hall was Victoria's cousin Danielle and her ghost friend Youngblood who appeared to be a mere haze to Victoria at first until she closed her eyes to clear her mind. Reopening them again the child ghost Youngblood came out more clearer.

Dani wore her black jeans with her black corset top and fishnet sleeves and neck with red and black stripped socks. Youngblood on the other hand was dressed up a like a pirate (one of his favourite outfits). He wore green pants and shirt underneath a grey jacket. He had green hair and eyes. One his left hand was a fake hook and on his left foot a fake peg leg. On top of his head was a black pirate hat with a glowing green skull.

"Are you that paranoid that I can't take care of Dani?" whined Youngblood.

"No! No, of course no…we just…had to get some…supplies….and…" Ember, Johnny and Victoria stuttered.

"I'm kidding," laughed Youngblood.

"Hey Tori, hi Viximon," Dani said waving to her cousin and her digimon who now spit water from her mouth and nose.

"Dani, how do you know her name?" Victoria asked grabbing some paper towels.

"I don't know I just do."

"Yeah, this is just getting freakier and freakier," Victoria thought rolling her eyes moving away toward the cupboard after cleaning up the water. "Where have mom and dad gone?" Victoria asked taking a can of cat food out.

"They went away for a little while," replied Dani calmly.

"Why didn't they take you with them?" Viximon inquired.

"I didn't want to go, I wanted to chill out at home with Youngblood," Dani simply said sitting on the stool by Viximon and accepting a can of root beer from Youngblood.

"Dude, how many of those have you had?" asked Ember raising an eyebrow.

"Half a case each," Youngblood shrugged chugging back the can of pop.

"Oh gods, sugar hyper, giddy ghost doesn't need any more of this," moaned Victoria placing the cat food on the ground so Snowy could eat. Victoria sat down across the island from Dani, resting her arm in front of her. It felt so good to be home, to be able to actually sit down somewhere, relax and not have to worry about where their next place to sleep was going to be.

Youngblood let out a loud belch above them knocking Victoria out of her thoughts followed by Dani showing off her belching skills.

"Very mature you two," Ember scoffed entering the kitchen with Johnny.

"Thank you," both responded with a goofy smile.

"Have either of you eaten yet?" Victoria asked.

"Does ice cream count?" Youngblood interjected.

"Are you…? No, it does not count. Here's an idea, I'll make a healthy meal."

"Ew, healthy?" Youngblood stuck out his tongue.

"You like my cooking, just trust me," Victoria said getting off the stool and made her way to the fridge again, taking out thing placing them on the counter. Victoria was a wize at making any meal from scratch with whatever ingredients were around.

Within minutes, Victoria placed the food on six different plates, made it all look presentable and placed them on the kitchen table.

"Viola, I present to you my special egg and herb breakfast topped with fruit on the side."

"Where did you learn to cook?" Johnny asked.

"Akima taught me when I was eight; she always told me to use all fresh items nothing else."

Dani, Johnny and Ember all cut their food to take tiny bites to take everything, while Victoria and Youngblood nearly dived into their food. For Victoria, it had been a long time since seeing actual food; her stomach began to talk to her. For Youngblood who hated anything healthy actually seemed to enjoy it (side from the fact that Victoria added something's that he might like). Viximon was a little more graceful with eating for the most part.

"Victoria, tell me what is it like in the Digital World? Dani asked putting her fork down.

"It's amazing, weird, but amazing," Victoria replied before giving little tidbits here and there.

After the six were finished eating, Victoria cleared the plates, while Dani, Viximon and Youngblood went to sit on the ground in the living room. Both Dani and Youngblood asking over a hundred questions to Viximon about who she was, what she was and many more. Ember and Johnny rested on the couch staring at the blank screen listening to the silence both refusing to go near the remote (minor injury could result). Victoria rolled her eyes as she turned the television on so there a little more noise in the apartment, and keep her somewhat sane from the deafening quiet.

"I can't believe we're finally home, I wonder how much I have missed since we last were here? But nothing seems to have changed too drastically but how could that be?" Victoria thought her forefinger and thumb resting under her chin as she stare out the window.

"Unbelievable weather conditions around the world have all weather experts puzzled. There is still no rainfall in South East Asia, and all the rice patties are drying up-" the reporter on the TV announced.

"It appears Vortex is having issues again," Ember grumbled staring at the weather.

"Meramon, impossible," Victoria breathed as she turned her attention toward the TV seeing the fire demon digimon standing on top of a mountain. "It can't be, Seadramon, and Frigimon what are they doing here? How can this be?"

"You can see them too? Mom and dad thought I was making it up to get attention, Youngblood tried to be helpful by agreeing with me."

"But you're always making things up," joked Youngblood.

A second later the television flickered off by itself and all the other electronics began to flicker.

"What is going on?" Victoria wondered aloud.

"I have always thought that it was Technus getting a hold of the electronics again, but I'm not to sure any more."

"What is the reason for Technus to be coming here for?" Ember asked.

"Just to freak me out or being a pain in the butt that he normally is."

"Uh…the computer is going all freaky," Johnny mentioned pointing to the screen.

"Huh?" Turning her attention to the screen, a blurry picture of a person came on. At first Ember, Johnny, Dani, and Youngblood thought it was Technus. Victoria could barely make it out; it was a mystery who it was until she heard the voice.

"Can you hear…danger…safe…isn't…Victoria…wherever you maybe stay there! Total chaos, digimon, you don't know what you'll be getting yourself into."

"Robert? Robert!"

The computer screen went blank leaving Victoria standing there yelling at it for Robert to return. It was useless, he wasn't going to come back.

"Victoria, there's nothing you can do right now," Viximon said.

"There has to be something, my friends are endanger and I'm sitting here unable to help."

"It'll probably be wise to just relax, you'll think of something, you always do."

"Maybe you're right," Victoria sighed turning away from the screen.

"Dani, I have a question for you, did Vlad Masters ever come up here?" Johnny asked.

"No, I never realized he was in this city. Why?"

Johnny, Ember and Victoria all exchanged worried looks. Although it was a first time ever seeing Vlad, Victoria had heard stories and rumours about him.

"What's going on?"

"We might have…**seen**…him around the apartment, I fear the worse that he might be in this very apartment."

"What?" Dani yelped deadpanned. "Oh god what am I going to do? What am going to do?"

"Dani calm down, he left. I'm pretty sure that he has no idea that you are even here. Just as long as his ghost powers aren't picking you up."

"Why did you have to scare me like that?"

"I needed to warn…er…tell you. Listen t me, everything will be fine," Victoria assured. "Listen no one is going to hurt you, not as long as I am here."

"You promise?"

"We all promise," Victoria and the three ghosts chorused.

"Right now, I'm going to pack something's, Viximon, Ember, Johnny and Youngblood will stay with you and keep you safe and sane."

Leaving the five alone in the living room, Victoria headed into her room to put together an array of new clothes to bring with her. She grabbed a couple of new outfits for both her and Yumi as well as collected a few first aid items (knowing their luck, they were bound to need them). Victoria was determined as ever now to find a way back to the digital world, but she still feared leaving Dani all alone, even if she had the ghosts around her.

"Still concerned about her, aren't you?" a voice asked behind her.

Turning around Victoria came face to face with a skeleton parrot. It belonged to Youngblood, he was his favourite companion. Victoria was use to the parrot, he gave her the chance to get things off her chest when she couldn't get a hold of Yumi or Kiva.

"More than ever. It makes me worried that Vlad could take her away from us. My aunt, her mother, wanted to keep her safe and the only way to do that was to bring her here from America. Akima got word that another child fitting Dani's description was in the system. She told Yamato and I about this, even thought I was still little, I realized that it was my cousin, don't know how I just did. Since then, we have taken her in and raised her like our own. We never thought he'd come seek her out," explained Victoria leaning on her dresser.

"She must be very lucky to have you. Otherwise she'll fall victim of Vlad's cruelty."

"Don't remind me," replied Victoria turning back to her bag zipping it up. She let out a sigh of relief only to have it shatter as an explosion was heard outside.

"What the? What was that?"

Running to her window, she could see an image of a digimon disappear back into the water, a quizzical look over came her, how was that possible?

"Victoria, what is going on?" Dani asked as Victoria came charging out of her room holding her bag.

"Viximon, we have to go, we have trouble," Victoria said completely ignoring Dani's question and the questioning looks of the ghosts.

"Coming," Viximon called jumping from Youngblood's grasp.

"Victoria, please don't leave me, let me come with you!" Dani called running toward her cousin.

"Hey, don't leave us out of all the fun!" Ember called.

"Yeah, we want to help too!" Youngblood said.

"No! Dani, you are safe here! Youngblood, Ember and Johnny will make sure of that!" Victoria snapped, her patience wearing thin.

"Oh come on. You can't just expect us to stand by can you?" complained Johnny.

"Watch me. Stay here, all of you," Victoria scowled pointing toward Johnny and Youngblood.

Exiting the apartment, Victoria and Viximon took off down the hall to the street. Outside everyone was going on about their own business not even paying attention to the last attack.

"There has to be a rift around somewhere, that explains why all the digimon are coming through," Victoria panted as she ran to the streets.

"Victoria, wait for me! I want to go with you!"

Dani, Ember, Johnny and Youngblood were running out of the apartment to where Victoria stood. None of the ghosts seemed to be in a rush to stop Dani. Out of all of them, Youngblood was the worst to hold back, especially when an adventure was involved.

"Ember, Johnny, please take them back into the apartment. I can't take any of you with me, it's too dangerous. Besides, I need you two to watch those two," Victoria pointed to Dani and Youngblood who were ready to go on the offensive.

"Tori, you never left me behind before, and you promised you'd never leave me," Dani struggled in Ember's grasp as Ember attempted to drag her back to the apartment. Dani's powers were soon to kick in as she fought her way back to Victoria. Youngblood of course decided to treat this as a game going intangible and escaping Johnny's grasp. Dani of course turned intangible and floated in front of Victoria. "Please Tori."

"Listen to me, there's a tim…"

"Tori, look over there!" Viximon called.

Victoria turned her gaze to where Viximon pointed, there standing among a group of people, who didn't seem to notice, was Flarerizamon.

"What is he doing?" Ember asked joining Victoria's side.

"He's just…standing there and no one is even paying attention to him."

"What can he do?" Youngblood and Johnny asked.

"Anything to do with fire. It was not a pleasant time dealing with him," Victoria shuddered.

"Explains the body," Youngblood said in awe.

As soon as the light changed, Flarerizamon made his way toward Victoria, Dani, and the three ghosts, ready to attack.

"Look out!" shouted Victoria grabbing hold of Dani, for the instant forgetting her could go intangible, and knocked her to the ground in hopes of protecting her, not realizing she would be on the protecting side.

Viximon came to their defence and started to attack Flarerizamon, thinking she had a chance against the champion fire digimon.

"Viximon, he's too strong for you! You can't do it by yourself!" yelled Victoria in fear as she now knelt beside her cousin.

As if hearing her call, the digivice started to activate causing Viximon to digivolve into her rookie form. Ember, Johnny, Youngblood and Dani stared in amazement with Renamon's new form.

"Diamond storm!"

"Flame hit!"

"Let's turn up the heat! See how you like this!" Ember shouted strumming on her guitar as vibrations escaped hitting Flarerizamon, merely missing Renamon in the process.

"Hey, your not leaving me out of this, lets see how you like this," Youngblood shouted as his hook turned into a cannon shooting out cannon balls at top speed.

"Shadow, let's give them a hand!"

"Johnny!"

"Victoria, you have to allow me to help them, I can do it."

"No, ghost or not, you are not going out there. Who is to say that someone won't track your powers."

As the two humans watched defeated from the side lines, a portal opened up in the sky causing another rift to be created. Flarerizamon was sent flying towards it thanks to Renamon, Johnny and Ember. Realizing something felt strange to the ghosts, the three phased from existence and reappearing moments later by Victoria and Dani's side.

"What is going on?" asked Youngblood.

"Renamon! Come back!" shouted Victoria as Renamon was sent up in to the rift as well. Victoria ran towards her in hopes of getting her partner back.

"Or not," Youngblood said slowly.

"I'm needed in Digiworld, I'm sorry. You were the greatest friend I could ever ask for," Renamon said as she continued to get closer and closer to the rift.

"Renamon! I wish I knew how this stupid thing worked!" groaned Victoria staring in defeat.

"Victoria, please don't leave me, I want to go with you," Dani pleaded.

"I wish I could, you have no idea how much I rather take you with me than leave you here."

"Hey you saying we can't take care of her?" Ember asked getting all defensive.

"No, it's nothing like that, mom would kill me otherwise," Victoria finished.

The digivice started to go off again causing Victoria to stare at it in surprise. Something about the rift was making it happen. Victoria's eyes widened as she turned to face Johnny, Ember, Youngblood and Dani.

"Listen to me, I don't care what I just said. Ember, Johnny, I want you two to come with me."

"What? Why not me?" Youngblood yelped.

"Tori, you said."

"Youngblood, no one else in our place can see or hear you except for Dani and myself. You are the only one who can take care of her and not be seen. Besides, I want to keep my eye on Ember and Johnny."

"Don't forget me," Dani said wrapping her arms around her cousin's waist.

"I won't, if I don't come back, you can have my wardrobe."

Victoria, Ember and Johnny stood underneath the rift as Victoria raised her arm with the digivice as all three started to lift into the air.

"Be careful!" Dani called.

"We will. Just stay out of mischief."

Dani went ghost and started to raise into the sky along with Youngblood, she wanted to remain by cousin's side as long as possible.

When Victoria and the ghosts were half way through the rift, it was then that Dani realized she couldn't follow any longer, even though Youngblood found it amusing to fly above the rift to get a better look.

"What do you think you are doing?" his skeleton parrot asked.

"Seeing if there was another end to this."

"You are one very strange ghost child."

"Be safe cousin," Dani whispered as sadness over took her eyes.

A moment passed by when Victoria, Renamon, Ember and Johnny finally opened their eyes to see that they were back in the desert where Victoria and Renamon started. Victoria felt resentment build inside of her for leaving her cousin behind, especially knowing that her uncle was around.

**A/N: Wow, over a week to write this. Sorry for the wait, hope it was worth it. So yeah, let me introduce you to Youngblood the child ghost, don't worry we'll be seeing more of him when they return to the real world.**

**Youngblood: They better. I'm the coolest ghost out there!**

**Ember: Sure you are pipsqueak.**

**Me: Meet Ember McClain, world famous singer. She's exactly like the triplets, more than one way. She's got attitude, she's bitchy, dominating, sarcastic and cynical. She's not too keen on dipsticks.**

**Ember: What can I say? They bother me to no end.**

**Me: Well said. *rolls eyes* finally adding to our group is Johnny 13, named for his unluckiness. Could be interesting in the long run. He is very laid back and flirty.**

**Johnny: Who needs to be all uptight over something so small. I rather be with a hot babe and just chill.**

**Me: Yeah, that doesn't worry me.**

**Ember and Youngblood: You're the one who got rid of Kitty.**

**Me: She was getting fed up with me. That's why she dumped him.**

**Johnny: Not true.**

**Me, Ember, Youngblood and Renamon: DENIAL!**


	27. Familiar and new faces

**A/N: Hey everyone, a big thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, ProtogirlT and Crest power combining for your reviews, glad you enjoyed the story. As well, I decided to take off the crossover seeing as I got a complainer saying that I was an idiot for thinking this was a crossover. That it was more of a cameo at least. So I shout stop using Danny Phantom to promote my stories. I was not impressed. Anyway, I'm not going to let one comment get me down when I have the fabulous readers ever. I welcome new readers too!**

**Me: Hey everyone, glad you enjoyed the latest chapter.**

**Youngblood: Thank you San Child of the Wolves for the compliment. I AM THE COOLEST!**

**Ember: Stop boasting, it'll just go to your head.**

**Youngblood: *blows raspberry* I don't need to listen to you.**

**Ember: You're just jealous that Johnny and I got to go to the Digiworld and not you.**

**Me and Johnny: Stop fighting you two!**

**Me: Anyway, back to the story, oh and so no one is confused, Johnny took his motorcycle with him, it just wasn't show.**

**Chapter 27**

**Familiar and new faces**

Monologue- Victoria:

_I felt bad for leaving Dani behind like that, she's right; I've never left her behind before. What else _was I _suppose to do? It's too dangerous to bring her here, ever if she __**could**__ defend herself. If I find out Vlad got to her, I swear he'll have to answer to me! I have faith in Youngblood, how much faith? Is all up in the air. I need to keep composed to deal with this. But I am going to kill everyone for ditching us!_

Victoria looked around mortified as she realized that no one was there, everyone left. The annoyance veins came back as she tried to get a hand on this.

"This is just great! We're gone for a short while and everyone decides to disappear! Perfect! Where could they have gone?" Victoria fumed looking around for answers.

"There is no sense in getting all worked up. This was the place we left them right?" Renamon soothed trying to calm Victoria down who appeared to be close to smashing something.

"You know what's going on?" Ember asked.

"Not a single clue. Just the fact that she reminds me of you when your on your temper tantrum."

"Not funny bike boy. So what's the plan now?" Ember asked turning away from Johnny.

"I suppose searching for the others is in order. Yumi, Kiva I wish you two were here!" Victoria groaned letting her head hang.

"Yumi and Kiva are here?" Johnny and Ember asked surprised.

"Yeah, this is what happens when we are forced to go to camp," Victoria sighed as she searched for her rapidly beeping digivice. Ember and Johnny looked at the digivice in wonder as Victoria raised her eyebrow seeing a yellow and amber dot on the screen. "I hope this means that our friends are close by," Victoria sighed again as she continued to stare at the device.

"I believe you are right. What are you doing?" Renamon and Ember asked Victoria who held the device in her hand and moving her arm in different area hoping to get a lock.

"Robert put tracking dots on our digivices for just this emergency. Now where or where is that little dot showing us?" Victoria asked mindlessly as she held it out in front of her where it was rapidly beeping the two colours. Moving away from side to side it died down.

"Perfect, I have a lock. Yumi, Kiva this better be one of your little dots or I am not going to be a happy camper!" Victoria grumbled in a huff staring at the endless sand.

"How many are there of you?" Johnny asked.

"Nine of us all together. James, Mark, Kisho, Tora, Robert and Yukito, side from Yumi, Kiva and I."

"Sounds like an exciting bunch," Johnny replied sarcastically.

"Uh…Johnny, you know Robert and Yukito, you were the main cause that they got together. I seem to recall when you overshadowed Yukito, Yukito was so shy and Robert was the seventh grader who had his head buried in books and wouldn't pay attention to anyone."

"Oh yeah, I remember them now. Yukito spent days on end moping around obsessing over him. Since Ember wasn't around, I had to be the one to help him."

"No one forced you to help," Victoria said resting her hand on her hip.

"No, I think it was Yumi's idea, she tricked Johnny into overshadowing Yukito saying that she needed his help with something or other in the library saying he refused. I could be wrong, though. Well anyway, Robert showed up instead of Yumi and that's when Johnny decided to ask Robert out for Yukito," explained Ember.

"Well, I think he's been grateful for that one," Victoria admitted.

"Asking out another dude is not my style."

"But you were so cute doing it though," gushed Ember causing Johnny to blush bright red as he turned away.

"You have such a big heart," Victoria simpered.

"Okay, before you decide to cause him to curl up in a ball, I say we better get a move on or you'll never want to get motivated," Renamon said stepping in saving Johnny from any more embarrassment.

"Your right. Johnny, we're sorry," Victoria chocked out trying to hold back a fit of laughter that threatened to over take her.

The four trudged across the hot desert floor, the wind thankfully on a stand still for the time being allowing for easy access without dealing with a sandstorm. Johnny on the other hand got the luxury of cruising on his motorcycle. Ember flew above them girls enjoying the scenes from the sky.

"Heat plus fur equals a bad combination," grumbled Renamon wanting no more than to cool herself off somehow.

Victoria took out a bottle of water from her bag and gave it to Renamon knowing full well that the heat would soon be getting to her. Oh, how she longed to be in the snowy mountains yet again, she couldn't stand the heat like she use to.

Tilting her head up toward the blue sky, Victoria's black eyes came in contact with Ember's green ones. Memories flooded over her as she recalled when she got to meet Ember, Johnny and Youngblood for the first time.

Just after Dani came to visit them, weird things began to occur around the house that could not be explained. Dani, who at the time seemed to be the only one to see the ghost child. She explained that it was Youngblood playing around wanting attention.

Victoria soon became aware of his existence as she allowed her child side to come out. She realized his main reason for being with her, he saw a friend in her seeing as both were young as well as the fact that he always hung around her since the day of her birth. Since that day, Youngblood became part of the family causing mayhem along side Dani.

Johnny came into the picture three years later, at first he was there just cruising the streets with his girlfriend at the time Kitty, chilling out in a new city and wreaking bad luck with his shadow. After some time, Victoria spotted him along the streets when going to the park or school. Months later it became clear that he was instructed to keep an eye on Dani (Dani's mother's idea).

Ember had been around for some time, her music a huge hit with all the teenagers and those who appreciated her styling of music. Obviously, none of the parents were too found of it, except for Akima and Yamato who were still in their twenties and enjoyed her singing. Victoria, Yumi and Kiva always got to go to the concerts, that's how they all met Ember and became her biggest fans.

Victoria had nearly all of Ember's Cd's, which occupied most of her CD rack. There was something about Ember that always fascinated her.

Time passed them by and they still were no closer to their destination than they were an hour prior. The heat truly got to the four when their paces turned to a crawl. Victoria refused on so many levels to complain about the heat, she didn't want to turn into Tora.

"We need to pick up the speed here," Johnny insisted allowing his motorcycle to idle beside Renamon and Victoria.

"Good idea, Victoria hop on my back," Renamon insisted.

"Renamon, are you sure?" Victoria asked sceptically.

"I'm positive."

"I can take her on my bike," suggested Johnny.

"See that's what I fear. Besides I can run faster."

"Whoa, before we get into an argument here, because we could be here for hours, something I don't want to be doing. Renamon, you can trust Johnny, Victoria's been with him before. And I'll take you that way we all have someone to go with," Ember explained stepping in between Johnny and Renamon. Renamon had her eyes narrowed as she glared at Johnny, she didn't fully trust him.

"Victoria, your call."

"Oh yeah, put me in the spot light. Look, I agree with Ember - Renamon listen to me, your going to have to trust them all right?"

"Fine. No funny business 13 or you will be mine."

Johnny didn't take to the threat, he knew Renamon couldn't hurt him, he was already dead.

Victoria hopped on to the back of the motorcycle holding on to his waist. She looked over at Renamon and Ember; both were already up in the air, Ember holding on to Renamon's paw like she weighed nothing.

"Try to keep up McClain," Johnny taunted.

"We're not here to see who the best is. Just keep heading straight. I want to get to the yellow dot as quick as possible."

"You got it." Johnny started the motorcycle taking off down the desert leaving a trail of dust behind him. Ember and Renamon flew over head keeping up with Johnny and Victoria.

The sand began to disappear after some time replacing it with grass, trees and shade. A sigh of relief escaped the four as they all slowed down to a stop so Victoria could check her device once again.

"Ha, the beep is getting stronger! Okay little one, where could you be hiding?" Victoria muttered. "Look up there, it's Labramon! At least it's someone." Victoria ran toward the white dog digimon. Renamon ran right beside Victoria matching her speed. Ember flew above them, with Johnny on his bike.

"Labramon am I ever glad to see you," Victoria said kneeling down and petting his head.

"Renamon, Victoria, you've returned. And you brought friends," Labramon replied sitting up noticing the familiar faces of Victoria and Renamon and the new faces of the ghosts. "You two have been gone for so long." Victoria noticed that he was guarding a digivice and crest.

"Labramon, where are Kisho and the others?" Victoria asked her voice growing worried.

"And exactly how long **have** we been gone for?" Renamon asked.

Ember and Johnny just stayed in the back highly confused as to what was going on. Of course, Victoria explained everything, especially who the digimon were and who their partners were, but this was highly confusing Victoria only had been home for only four hours, not even.

"Why don't you go ask him?" Labramon seethed. This wasn't like him. It could possibly be the affects of Kisho; he **had** been changing a lot lately.

"He's not here, you are! Please I need to know," Victoria said through clenched teeth, trying to keep her cool.

"Well, after you and Renamon left, everyone searched high and low, Puppymon and I did most of the low parts. Weeks went by and still nothing, finally we just gave up."

~Flashback~

The gang sat around the campfire talking among themselves. Exhaustion was truly getting to them, and who could blame them.

"This is getting crazy, we should have found her by now," Yumi groaned.

"By this rate, we'll be more lost and still nowhere near finding her," Robert said.

"Not even our digivices are responding to her. Are you even sure that she could be remotely around here?" James asked.

"Who is to say where that vortex led to?" Bearmon said.

Kiva remained silent listening to the conversation; she was getting fed up with the whole ordeal and knew full well that Yumi was no better.

"Look, before we get into anymore of a heated argument. I say we get some shut eye and try again tomorrow," suggest Tentomon.

No one argued that factor; Kisho and Labramon seemed to be out like a light before anyone else seemed to be out.

An hour passed by when Yumi woke up careful not to make a sound. She knew that if she wanted to get any progress with finding Victoria, she would have to search on her own. Lightly as she could, Yumi stepped over Kiva and Puppymon's bodies not daring to disturb them from their sleep.

She soon made her way over to Labramon and Kisho's peaceful sleeping bodies. Labramon had sensed her arrival and woke up blurry eyed letting out a yawn.

"Labramon, I'm going to search for Victoria on my own. I can cover more ground. Don't tell anyone and promise to keep an eye out for Kisho. When in doubt, remind him if he gets scared or worried, he has my necklace to give him the courage he needs," Yumi whispered petting Labramon's head as he dozed off again.

Yumi disappeared into the night leaving behind the fourteen, unaware that Kiva was not one for staying asleep. Her eyes popped opened staring at Puppymon who was already standing ready to leave as well.

Kiva stood up silently making her way over to Labramon, her footsteps soft and gentle on the sandy ground. When she reached Labramon, he didn't stir like he did when Yumi got to him. She lightly touched his head letting her presence be known, as well as to mentally tell him that she was leaving as well in the same direction as Yumi.

The next morning, the remaining twelve awoke groggily staring around realizing that they were now down three members.

"They left us? I can't believe it!" shouted James annoyed.

"Well, can you blame them? You treat them indifferently, I'm amazed they stuck around this long," Bearmon retorted.

"Agh!"

Soon after the group came to their awareness, the twelve went in search for Yumi, Kiva and Puppymon. The winds picked up producing a sandstorm forcing everyone to shield their eyes.

"I swear, I get my hands on them they are going to **pay** for making us wonder this bloody inferno!" seethed James.

"Threats won't help. Besides, you don't have the guts to take them on," Yukito countered lifting poor Penguinmon up in his arms. He wasn't the lightest thing on the planet, but it was better than having him torture himself in the process.

"We're not going to get far arguing like this. I say we just split off and see what we can find," suggested Robert wiping sweat off his forehead.

"I'm with you on that one. I say good luck to all of you," Yukito waved following his boyfriend across the desert in one direction.

"Four down, eight remaining," Tora sighed trudging forward with the group.

"Oh how I wish we had water on us, I'm parched," Lalamon whined resting in her partners arms.

"I know Lalamon, I know."

"Listen, I agree with Robert that splitting up would be an excellent idea. Bearmon and I can cover just as much ground," James announced a couple of hours later; he made his way off in another direction.

"Is this how it all comes down to now?" Tora wondered.

The remaining six kept going in the same direction for several more hours until Tora finally made up her mind she should go off and see what she could find.

After that the only remaining ones were Mark, Gaomon, Kisho and Labramon staring at the sand dunes watching the retreating backs of Tora and Lalamon.

"So much for staying together," scoffed Kisho an hour later, the wolf pendant resting in his hand as he stared down at the water from a stone bridge.

"Don't look on the dark side Kisho. You need to think positively," Labramon said.

"Why bother, things aren't just going to change. What's done is done," Kisho muttered looking away.

"Come on little man, we'll continue on our own. Come on, cheer up."

The four strolled through the forest unaware of what was waiting for them. Labramon was the first to widen his eyes see the sight before them. This place didn't look right to him whatsoever, but apparently Kisho and Mark didn't see the same thing as him.

Up ahead of them was an amusement park that looked like it went through hell. A few of the rides were broken or seen better days. Some of them looked like they had decomposed from weather. Others looked fine except with the minor paint scratch here and there. Buildings had their windows smashed, or where the windows were; now boards took place.

Labramon shuddered at the sight of the place before them. Gaomon seemed to notice it too as his pace slowed down almost to a crawl.

As for the boys, they saw something completely different. The rides were intact; the buildings seemed to be in one piece. It was paradise.

"Kisho, check out this place. How can you stay miserable around here?" Mark asked optimistically. He needed to figure someway to cheer his brother up.

"Kisho, just be careful, I don't trust this place," Labramon whispered walking besides his partner.

"Mark, I'm getting strange vibes from here. Maybe we should go someplace different," Gaomon whispered getting really anxious.

"It's not like it's Toy Town, this is safe."

As the four ventured further into the park, Kisho was the first to notice that something seemed off.

"Apparently, no one bothered to put a sign up saying closed."

"Or condemned," Labramon and Gaomon whispered looking around.

Past the park itself leading to the docks a swan boat sat waiting for them. Mark and Gaomon stood close to the swan boat while Kisho and Labramon in front of them.

"Kisho, listen to me, I'm going to try and find the others. Stay here and have fun all right? Remember, it's an amusement park, so amuse yourself. Don't forget, you have Labramon to keep you company. I won't be long, I promise."

"Don't keep promises, you can't keep," Kisho said grimly.

"Come on, you know me better than that, I always keep my promises."

Kisho just stared at him, there were days when he would keep his promises, other days, Kisho learned to stop trusting.

"Labramon, remember, keep an eye on him," Gaomon said.

"I will, just be safe."

"We will."

When Mark and Gaomon were finally in the swan and paddling away, Kisho called out to them solemnly. "Be safe."

"I will, have fun. Labramon, keep him happy."

After that, Kisho and Labramon remained alone in the park. The two spent most their time hanging around the park, never going on the rides just wandering around. When they finally would sit down, Kisho would sit there staring into space while playing with the necklace. He soon started to shut down almost. Weeks went by and Mark never returned Kisho kept going into a darker and darker area of his mind, something that Labramon had seen before back in the building with SkullBaluchimon.

"So it's true, no on want to deal with the child. Maybe Yumi, Victoria and Kiva are right. It's best to remain invisible from everyone," Kisho said melancholy.

"Kisho, that's not true. I'm sure someone will be back for us. I'm sure of it," Labramon replied trying to be hopeful. He sat down next to Kisho praying that he'll snap out of his misery. It wasn't soon after a blue digimon with a body like a bowling ball, two bat like wings coming from his back and two stitches on his face, one in between his eyes and the other from his right eye to a skull on his forehead, appeared to them.

"Hey kid, what's got you all troubled? The names DemiDevimon," called out the bat like digimon.

"DemiDevimon, I've heard of you."

"I'm flattered," he replied sarcastically.

"Don't be, I've heard awful things about you."

"Okay, I'd admit I use to be a bit of a wise guy, but that was only because I was working for Etemon. But now he's kaput thanks to you guys, something I'm eternally grateful. Personally I never liked the guy. So come on, tell me what's going on with you," DemiDevimon asked flapping around Kisho's head.

"It doesn't matter, it's nothing important, just like me," Kisho sighed.

"That's not true, come on, tell me what's gotten you all down."

"I've been left behind by everyone. I'm a no body," Kisho replied solemnly refusing to look up into DemiDevimon's direction. He wouldn't cry he was too big for that now. He learned from Yumi, Victoria and Kiva to keep him emotions bottled up inside and shut everything out.

"Well kid look no further, I can be you friend," DemiDevimon announced happily. _'This is too easy. I don't even have to trick him. Ha!'_

"Kisho, I don't trust me, not one little bit," Labramon hissed baring his teeth.

"Don't listen to him kid. Besides he's just a little jealous that you found a new friend."

"Retriever bark!" growled Labramon.

"Labramon, what do you think you're doing?"

"Kisho, how can you so blindly trust him?" Labramon demanded.

"There is no need for attacking him like that, he has done nothing wrong."

"Fine then, if you believe him over me, then I'm leaving!"

"Be the way, take these with you. I don't want them any more," Kisho scoffed tossing his crest and digivice back toward land. His hand rested on the wolf pendant, a thought crossed his mind momentarily before reconsidering.

Labramon chased after the crest and digivice, picked them up and took off out of the park. He could hear DemiDevimon snicker behind him, mocking him.

~End Flashback~

"That's how it all started. Kisho gave up his crest and digivice and left me all alone. He's since than been hanging with that little bat digimon."

"That does not sound like him at all. You said he had Yumi's necklace, does he still have it on him?" Victoria asked trying to contemplate what exactly was going on.

"He never took it off. He knows how special and important it is to Yumi, no matter what DemiDevimon told him."

"Excellent, at least we have **something** to go by."

"Whoa, before we go anywhere, explain something to us, what are you talking about with mood changes? We want to know what we're dealing with," Johnny demanded watching as Victoria picked up Kisho's crest and digivice from the ground. Johnny was right, he and Ember had no clue what exactly was going on.

"Ever since we stepped foot into this one building a while back, Kisho began to change. It was the same building we were held captive in by SkullBaluchimon," Labramon explained looking at Victoria who nodded her head in understanding. "It wasn't a full out turn of moods that came later. When we were battling SkullBaluchimon, I was feeding off of Kisho's emotions as he tapped into his subconscious. There are still things I'm unclear about with him, but it is clear with his moods.

"Later when we were in the house of silence, Kisho truly began to dig deeper into his emotions. He refused to allow his brother to overshadow him any longer. He truly got darker than normal. I can't explain it. Kiva mentioned that she felt a strong aura coming from him."

"So we were truly the cause."

"Not necessarily, you never told him to be depressed or he had to think in differently. He always looked up to you three."

"Great role models, aren't we?" Victoria smirked to Ember and Johnny.

"You've taught Dani well, so you should Kisho."

"All right, enough of this, let's go find Kisho," Victoria announced stashing the crest and digivice into her carrier bag. The five of them strolled through the forest in the direction of the amusement park. Up ahead of them, Ember, Johnny, Labramon and Renamon all saw the near decomposing amusement park. Everything that Labramon had told them was true. Victoria saw something in between everything. It wasn't truly the perfect amusement park that Mark and Kisho saw, but it wasn't the decomposing one either. She immediately thought something wrong was going on.

"This is it?" wondered Ember, Johnny and Victoria.

"Unfortunately yes."

Sitting in one of the rides (that didn't appear to be broken), Kisho stared off into the distance while holding the silver wolf charm between his thumb and forefinger. He zipped the charm back and forth on the chain only concentrating upon the charm. The wolf was getting warm under his touch, whether it was from holding it too long or something magical was happening. This was already the fourth ride they had been on. Kisho wasn't impressed by a lot of the rides that they had been on.

"Come on Kisho, cheer up, this is supposed to be a fun ride."

"What's the point in being excited about something, when all it's going to do in the end is come crashing down on you burying your soul for all eternity."

"You just need to keep you mind occupied. Come on, you have your friend DemiDevimon here. On the count of three, we'll scream on top of our lungs, okay? One…two…three…Ahh!" DemiDevimon screamed half-heartedly, giving up in the end when Kisho wouldn't join in. _'Man this kid is __**way**__ to depressing. I have to get him to lose that necklace and forget his digimon.'_

An idea formulated in his head after a moment as he turned back to Kisho. "Listen, there's something I have to take of, I'll be right back."

"I knew you would leave as well," Kisho sighed.

"Hey, unlike those so called friends of yours, I **will** be right back."

DemiDevimon flew off from the roller coaster, leaving Kisho sitting there in the seat as the ride continued.

"There he is, I see the glitter of the necklace!" shouted Victoria from down below running toward the ride with Renamon, Johnny, Ember and Labramon right behind her.

When the ride stopped, Kisho got off and ran towards Victoria excited to see her. "You came back. I knew you would," Kisho said, his voice soft and solemn. He wrapped his arms around Victoria's waist in a hug. Victoria at first was taken aback by the sudden affection, but wrapped her arms around him nonetheless.

"Yeah buddy, I'm back."

"Who are your friends?" Kisho asked noticing Johnny and Ember standing behind Victoria.

"This is Johnny 13 and Ember McClain. Guys, this is Kisho."

"Ah, so this is the one you were talking about."

Meanwhile DemiDevimon flew toward a patch of funny looking mushrooms with two Gazimon sitting on the patch, looking overly confused about where they were.

"Hey you lazy bones. What would Etemon say if he saw you two sitting on the job?"

"Ete who?"

"Come to think about it, who are you?"

"Who am I? Who are you?"

"So, you both had the mushrooms of forgetfulness. This'll come in handy."

DemiDevimon took a bunch of mushrooms from the ground and flew back to the amusement park snickering evilly.

Back at the amusement park Victoria looked down at Kisho trying to get everything clear. "Kisho, I'm pretty sure Labramon would appreciate some love too," Victoria interjected when Kisho refused to go near Labramon.

"Why bother? He was being rude to DemiDevimon and all he was trying to do was be nice."

"That's not true! DemiDevimon is evil, there is not one good bone in his body."

"Hold up you two. Kisho, come on, you and Labramon have been great friends since the start. You don't want to ruin that do you?"

"I don't know, I guess not," Kisho muttered looking at the ground.

"Precisely. What have we always told you? And I'm pretty sure your brother has told you too. Be careful who you trust in your life that are new."

"What about Ember and Johnny?"

"Their different. You can trust them," explained Victoria. "Where exactly have the others disappeared to anyway?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. Why should I even be worried where those who are supposed to care about me disappear? I'm a no body, I'm too weak!" shouted Kisho anger filling his voice. Victoria knelt down to his level to look him in his eyes.

"You are not weak. Do you hear me? You are just as strong as everyone here. You have proven yourself over and over again that you can handle yourself. Look at Labramon, without you he couldn't digivolve into that very cool Dobermon. The pair of you share a tight bond that only a few have established. You two can read each others thoughts and plan things quickly when the rest of us are in trouble. You've become so much like Yumi, Kiva and I."

"So why did they leave?"

"To cover more ground. You know full well that Kiva and Yumi work well along. We are strong together and very strong willed."

"I guess…" Kisho replied looking away from Victoria. He knew she was right, he just didn't want to admit it.

"So, where exactly is this digimon you call…friend?" Renamon and Ember asked.

"Look what I found," DemiDevimon's voice rang out just as Kisho went to say something. In his claws he held on to a basket.

"Whoa, is that him? I wouldn't call him a very trustworthy in my opinion," Victoria said eyes narrowed.

DemiDevimon landed on the ground with the basket of mushrooms looking at Labramon with the same evil grin on his face. "Hey there Labramon, how have you been?" he said, his voice bordering sarcasm and a sneer.

Labramon let out a low growl as he ready to pounce at him. Renamon bared her teeth as she let out a growl herself.

"What exactly have you been telling Kisho you flying midget imp?" Renamon growled dangerously.

"Uh…whoa…ease up, who exactly are you anyway?"

"Good friends of Kisho's. You better tell the truth right now!" hissed Victoria.

"It's like I told Kisho. Mark was sick and tired of looking out for the weakling and he didn't want to deal with him any longer. I can't help it that the truth hurts."

"I know for a fact you little creep that Mark would **never** tell his brother things like that. I say you take us to him so we can hear it from his own mouth!" warned Victoria her voice dangerously low. Ember and Johnny both glared down at DemiDevimon daring him to take a move.

"I have to warn you, it's a long journey to get to him," DemiDevimon sneered.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, we want to see him **now**!" Victoria's voice dripped with venom as her eyes flashed with danger.

A rumbling sound came from within Kisho just as DemiDevimon went to say something catching everyone off guard. "Guess I'm a little hungry now that I think of it."

"Excellent. I have some mushrooms we can have. Picked them myself, so they're fresh and juicy," DemiDevimon grinned landing next to the basket where Labramon sniffed at them curiously. Renamon stared down at them with distaste. How can anyone be that gullible to eat something like that picked up by an untrustworthy digimon. Ember and Johnny glared at the mushrooms with upturned noses, neither of them too keen on mushrooms, especially when they were an odd colour.

"Wait, let's do this right and cook them, they taste so much better," suggested Victoria not taking any notice to the disapproval from the others.

"They look and taste the same regardless," scoffed Ember crossing her arms in front of her.

DemiDevimon let out a groan as he watched impatiently as Victoria set up a fire and began to coot them. Renamon stood nearby eyeing the digimon irritably.

"Victoria, I'll be right back!" announced Renamon.

"We'll still be here."

Renamon took off toward the location where DemiDevimon headed off to in the first place. Ember and Johnny were right behind her. She didn't overly care that they were with her, although she preferred it if one of them were with Victoria and Kisho.

Along the way, the three of them noticed even more mushrooms of the same weird colour in the ground.

"Don't eat the mushrooms. They are the mushrooms of forgetfulness," whispered a female voice. Renamon, Ember and Johnny recognized the voice as Yumi's right away. "Yumi? Where are you?" Renamon wanted so desperately to go after her, she was pretty sure that Ember and Johnny would jump at the chance to get her too. At that time, their main concern was to return to the group and warn them.

'_I knew there was something wrong with that bat,'_ growled Renamon running at top speed back to the small group, causing Ember and Johnny to fly above her.

At the little spot, Victoria picked up a mushroom examining it declaring it cooked. She handed it over to Kisho who took it generously and was about to take a bite.

"Let is cool first. I don't want you to burn yourself," Victoria advised as Kisho let out a yelp. DemiDevimon fell to the ground in exasperation with all this wasted time.

"No! Tori, don't eat the mushrooms, they're poisonous. They'll make you forget everything!" shouted Renamon charging toward them. Johnny and Ember flying next to her, anger filling their eyes as they wanted to rip DemiDevimon apart.

"Renamon? What the?" Victoria asked shocked looking at her partners expression as Renamon snatched the mushroom from Kisho's hand as he was about to pop it into his mouth.

"Why do you think he won't eat them? He knows what the affects are," Renamon seethed throwing the mushroom at DemiDevimon, who kept his mouth shut.

"I can't believe you so something like this!" yelled Kisho.

"Really, you couldn't?" Ember whispered.

"Don't think your going anywhere to fast there peewee," Renamon growled lunging at DemiDevimon as he went to fly off.

"Do you believe me now?" Labramon asked.

"Yes, and I'm so sorry I didn't believe you in the first place," Kisho apologized giving Labramon a hug.

"I believe you would want **these** back," Victoria grinned producing his digivice and crest from her bag and handed them back. As Kisho placed the crest over his head and allowed it to rest next to the wolf pendent, it began to glow yellow.

"Hey look, the crest, it's glowing," gasped Ember.

"That's not good," grumbled DemiDevimon as he bit down on Renamon's arm causing her to yelp and slap him away. "Who gave you the idea that crest is yours? Hand it over you pipsqueak!" DemiDevimon demanded lunging toward Kisho.

Labramon barked a warning as he jumped at him. "I'll take care of this creep myself Kisho," Labramon insisted charging toward DemiDevimon.

"Go Labramon!"

Kisho, Victoria, Renamon, Ember and Johnny watched Labramon take on the creep. He of course was determined to destroy the liar, having Kisho back gave him that little extra boost of energy. Labramon sent attack after attack to the bat digimon, allowing him no chance to attack back.

Kisho's eyes blazed with determination as his digivice started to glow as both digimon and partner fed off of each others emotions. DemiDevimon was already trying to counter with his own sneakiness with playing unfair. With the continuation of cheap shots, Labramon's eyes glowed with annoyance as he digivolved to Dobermon, truly showing the height between the two digimon. The two made their way up the rickety roller coaster tracks, Dobermon blasting DemiDevimon up each time. Although DemiDevimon could fly, there was no chance in him getting away from the bigger dog.

DemiDevimon got all sweaty as he realized that his chances of succeeding in the match were futile at best.

"Mommy," DemiDevimon whimpered as Dobermon sent him flying with his growl realm attack. DemiDevimon went flying to the next ride, causing Dobermon to follow. He was furious with all his lies and attempt to take Kisho away from him.

"Growl realm!" DemiDevimon was sent flying in the near by water with a splash.

Dobermon landed on the ground gracefully returning back to Labramon and ran toward Kisho, Victoria, Renamon and the two ghosts. When they were reunited the amusement park seemed to show it's true colours. Kisho was shocked at seeing the sight of the park, he wasn't expecting it to be like that.

"Labramon, I am so sorry I ever doubted you. Could you ever forgive me?" Kisho asked.

"Don't worry about it Kisho, it's all in the past."

"All right you two let's go search for the others and find a way back to the real world," Victoria cut in as her mind shifted to Dani.

"Good idea. Oh, Victoria, you probably want this back," Kisho said taking off the necklace.

"No, Yumi gave that to you to keep you strong. Hold on to it."

Kisho smiled as he put the necklace back on around his neck along side the crest. He took hold of Victoria's hand refusing to let her out of his sight.

Victoria smiled down at him thankful that he was safe in the long run and that nothing serious happened to him. There was so much secrets in him that she yearned to learn, but for now, it could wait.

"I was close, so close," DemiDevimon muttered resting on the ground after dragging himself out of the water. As he looked up, he went into shock as he saw the sky above him turn from a normal dark blue to red as a shadow figure formed.

"Uh oh, now I'm in for it," he moaned as bats formed around the figure. "Forgive me O terrible one the crest of Harmony has regained its light. I've failed," DemiDevimon grovelled to the figured. Apparently something about it really scared him to death.

**A/N: Okay, so since when did Victoria become so wise? I thought that Victoria possessed that crest? Oh well, Victoria fit the part for that right now, she's the only one without the clouded mind. Sorry the fighting scene wasn't all that long, didn't see any reason for a long fight since it was going to be an unfair challenge with Dobermon anyway lol. Well one down, seven more to go. **


	28. Clumsiness plus bad luck plus

**A/N: Hey, thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for their reviews. Greatly appreciated! So here is the next chapter. It's the same as the show, but with twists along the way. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter 28**

**Clumsiness plus bad luck plus**

**kitchen work equals problems**

Mark and Gaomon left the safety of the swan and started to wander the new section of land. Both made their way down a path leading to nowhere in particular. Mark felt lost as it was and it didn't help that there was no signs to sow them in the right direction.

"We're lost aren't we?"

"No, we're not lost, we're just…yeah, we're lost," Mark sighed looking around at the abandoned path. He needed to admit to himself that there was no sense lying to himself.

"Hey, look up ahead," Gaomon quipped pointing toward three digimon making their way on another path far ahead of them. There was a Monzaemon, Cockatrimon and a Frigimon (surprisingly it was able to survive this weather).

"Maybe they could help us out, as long as they're not lost either," Mark replied.

"Let's go follow them."

Mark and Gaomon ran to catch up with the three digimon determined to ask for directions. What neither expected to see was a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Gaomon's jaw dropped at the sight of the place as a rumble sound came from his stomach. Mark looked down at his partner eyebrows raised.

"I knew if we held off just a little longer, we come across food!" Mark exclaimed as his own stomach rumbled. Smiles grew on their faces as they made their way toward the stairs.

Inside the restaurant the Monzaemon, Cockatrimon and Frigimon sat at a table as a short digimon with a yellow body and long vine like arms took their order.

"I'd like to order the usual, a large snow cone please."

"Me too."

"And rotten fruit."

"Okay, okay I got it. Two number fours and the special."

"Meet Vegiemon, the maniacal manager of a run down café. He puts a new spin on slave driver," James explained.

Vegiemon disappeared into the back leaving the three large digimon and a very disgruntled Bearmon cleaning off a nearby table. He didn't seem too overly amused doing any work; it was typical, seeing as he got it from his partner.

Mark and Gaomon entered the restaurant thinking that they could get a good meal. What they didn't expect to see was-

"Bearmon!" Mark and Gaomon gasped.

"Mark, Gaomon, am I ever glad to see you. I'm pretty sure James would be thrilled to see you, considering…" Bearmon beamed. He left his sentence drop as he looked at the floor.

"Where is he anyway?" Mark asked.

"Kitchen. Just…don't go that way, you probably should go around," cautioned Bearmon as Mark made his way to the door.

"How come?"

"You don't want to meet the manager digimon of this place."

"Oh…thanks Bearmon."

Mark disappeared through the front door heading around to the back. Gaomon stayed with Bearmon keeping him company.

In the kitchen, James, for once in his life, was currently scrubbing dishes while allowing something on the stove to simmer. He had the look of utter pain and annoyance, he had already gotten yelled at by Vegiemon to hurry up with an order, and he didn't want to disappoint.

"So many dishes. So much hard work," James muttered to himself.

"A little work is good for you man, did you truly thing you were actually going to get past life without doing some work?" Mark's voice sounded from the back door.

James turned to face him, a large grin on his face seeing his friend again. The smile seemed like one that had been lost for many months. Apparently there had never been one reason for him to actually smile about.

"Mark, I am so happy to see you man," James sighed in relief.

"Hey James, it's good to see you too. What are you doing here?" Mark asked looking around at the small kitchen.

"Ha, uh…that…is sort of…"

"It was just after Robert and Yukito left, you left, then it was Tora. Kisho and I were left on our own after that."

"Yeah, I apologize. It all started when we all went our separate ways to looks for Victoria. If I wasn't lost before hand, I was truly lost there. Deciding to go on an adventure in the desert, not the wisest decisions we truly had."

~Flashback~

"This is useless Bearmon, we're officially lost!"

"Don't worry James, we'll find someone or something," Bearmon replied hopefully.

"It's the _something_ I'm worried about."

"Your lost aren't you?" a small round bat asked.

James turned around with a jump as he glared down at the flying bowling ball with wings.

"Who are you?" asked James quizzically.

"Just a friend."

"James, I don't trust him," Bearmon whispered looking at DemiDevimon with hatred.

"Chill Bearmon. What do you want?"

"I thought you would like to know I saw some other human children just like you nearby," DemiDevimon grinned mischievously.

"You actually saw my friends? Show us to them," challenged James trying to ease Bearmon's mind.

"This way, we have to hurry before we lose them."

Bearmon turned his attention to James trying to understand why he would allow himself to be taken by an imp digimon. James didn't know the reason either, all he knew was, he wanted to get back to the group as soon as possible. James and Bearmon kept up their speed to catch up with DemiDevimon.

It looked like he was taking them anywhere and everywhere. It didn't help that James and Bearmon didn't know their way around, so they couldn't tell if DemiDevimon was messing with their brains or not.

After some time, the two finally got to a restaurant, just after DemiDevimon disappeared. A sigh of relief escaped their mouths when they saw a restaurant as growling sounded from their stomachs.

"How perfect is this?" Bearmon asked.

"A little too perfect if you ask me," James muttered.

Inside, the two sat down at one of the tables and ordered enough food to satisfy themselves and keep them within their prices. At the sight of the food, both began to salivate.

It was hard to believe that the tiny frame of James could inhale all that food. Without the collection of food that Victoria and Yumi carried around, the next best thing was to have actual food.

"This is so good. Much better than what Yumi and Victoria could come up with," James sighed contently. Thank god Yumi and Victoria weren't there to hear that or he would have been a dead man.

"Very filling."

"Now for the bill," Vegiemon smiled when James got to the counter.

"Absolutely, I believe this should be enough money for that amazing meal," James replied producing some dig dollars (where did that come from?)

"What are you? Some kind of comedian pal?" Vegiemon asked flabbergasted.

James looked stunned by Vegiemon's comment. What did he expect he could have? While James looked back and forth between Vegiemon and Bearmon, a Numemon came up to the counter with money to pay for his own food. One thing though, it was complete different from James'.

"Here you go Vegiemon," Numemon said placing down dollar bills.

"Dollar bills?"

"What did you expect?" snapped Vegiemon.

"Well…uh…Bearmon, help…all I have is digi dollars," stuttered James trying to find his voice.

"Some play money is all you have? So what I'm hearing is…you actually thought…you would eat without paying?" yelled Vegiemon.

~End flashbacks~

"Now he's making you cook the food to pay him off?" Mark asked trying to understand if he got everything.

"If I'm not scrubbing dishes or cleaning toilets."

"Hey! What's going on here? I'm not getting any richer with you chit chatting!" yelled Vegiemon coming through the kitchen doors. Mark glared at him while James looked a little freaked by the sudden surprise. "What, you want me to say pretty please? Hurry up with that strew!" Vegiemon demanded his temper rising.

"Okay, chill out. It's right here, sheesh," James replied rolling his eyes as he poured the stew into a bowl.

"Ha! About time! Who are these jokers?" Vegiemon asked now noticing Mark and Gaomon.

"We're friends of James and Bearmon."

"Well whoop-de-do and good for you," scoffed Vegiemon as he took the bowl and taste tested the stew. Without warning, he spat it out and chucked the bowl against the counter. "Agh! I can't give that to my customers!"

"You have to be…" James muttered now getting frustrated.

"Now you'll have to work another day for the ingredients you wasted."

"Another day? You…gah!"

"One more day? On top of how long James?"

"Well first, it was originally supposed to be for three days. Unfortunately I kept making mistakes and it just got longer. Now I'm up to over six weeks. And most of the things were not my fault!" snapped James.

"Who are you going to blame it on? The air? I doubt it. Besides, you still owe me for the wasted food, and the broken dishes."

"What's all the commotion in here? The customers are complaining," a new voice asked by the second door leading outside. He looked like an overgrown mutated egg.

"We didn't know it yet, but Digitamamon was an evil digimon. He was fully evolved and protected by his digi-egg shell," analyzed Mark. "Excuse me, are you the restaurant owner? My friends been working like crazy to pay off one lousy meal. Can't he go now?" Mark asked.

"Are you kidding me? This guy is not going anywhere. Of course if you stay to work off the debt," Digitamamon hinted as him and Mark headed outside.

"Who me?" Mark asked shocked.

"If you won't help, then go away. Your no use to me," he replied strolling away.

"Ugh. You have to be kidding me."

Mark dragged his feet back into the restaurant looking miffed at the whole situation. This was ridiculous, he had a feeling that Digitamamon was only keeping James here because they were short staffed.

"This is shit," groaned James, slamming his head against the counter.

"Listen to me, there's one thing I have to do, after that, I'll be able to come back and help you."

"I thought you were finally going to give Kisho his space?" questioned James turning his head to face Mark.

"I am it's just that I promised Kisho I'll come back for him. I don't want to break that promise," admitted Mark.

~Flashback~

"Kisho, listen to me, I'm going to try and find the others. Stay here and have fun all right? Remember, its an amusement park, so amuse yourself. Don't forget, you have Labramon to keep you company. I won't be long, I promise."

~End flashback~

'_Maybe Kisho is right, maybe I do make too many promises. Was it truly a wise idea to have left him? He is in a safe place though. But he did look down about the whole idea of separating,'_ Mark thought staring at the floor.

"What's on your mind Mark?" James and Gaomon asked concerned.

"Kisho, I'm sure a terrible person."

"You are not a terrible person. Go, if you need to get him, go," James urged.

"You sure?"

"Yes, if you're going to beat yourself up about it. Go!"

"All right, I won't be long."

James went back to his work while Mark and Gaomon left the restaurant to head back to the water.

Outside, above the restaurant Digitamamon strolled down a runway heading toward another building. Opening the door, his eyes widened at the sight of company.

"DemiDevimon, what are you doing here?" he asked.

DemiDevimon smirked mischievously as he turned toward a pile of cash. Digitamamon's eyes brightened.

"Ah, I see you have another task for me."

"That new boy, don't let him leave."

"Of course," Digitamamon responded greedily staring at the money.

Outside, Mark and Gaomon made their way toward the water and the swan. Mark's mind was set up with what he had planned on doing and nothing was going change his mind. Well except for-

"Hey, your not done yet. I checked the schedule; you're still on the clock."

"Schedule? I thought you said you didn't need me!" argued Mark.

"Guess what? I've changed my mind. Now get in the kitchen!"

"I'm leaving!"

"You can't leave. Get in that kitchen or you'll be fired."

"Then I quit. Better?"

"You can't quit. I say you stay. You don't want accidents to happen in the kitchen do you? You don't want your friend to get hurt do you?" Digitamamon sneered.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Mark angrily.

"You never know what bad things could happen if you leave."

Mark glowered at Digitamamon daring him; challenge him almost to prove him wrong. Digitamamon just stared back waiting for Mark to blink or back down.

Gaomon stared between the two of them wanting to know who was going to back down first. It seemed like a close match, neither one wanting to back down.

Finally, Mark let out an exasperated sigh as he lowered his head in defeat. Digitamamon grinned evilly as he got gratification for winning.

"I knew I could persuade you. Now, get back inside! The customers are waiting."

In the kitchen, Bearmon collected the dishes that James finished cleaning and took them to the cupboard. He turned his head at the sound of footsteps heading back into the kitchen. He thought that Digitamamon or Vegiemon were coming back, what he didn't realize was-

"Mark? I…I thought that you were going in search for Kisho?" James asked surprised.

"I…changed my mind," lied Mark going over to the stove to start up a meal.

The rest of the day there was an awkward silence hanging between the two boys. Gaomon shrugged his shoulders to Bearmon saying that he was unsure of what was going on. He didn't want to get into the whole details with what he heard.

While the boys dealt with their problems in the restaurant, Victoria, Kisho, Renamon, Labramon, Ember and Johnny continued their way toward the possible location of where Mark strolled not so long ago.

"Okay, footprints, tracks, anything would be helpful right now," groaned Victoria.

"How long have we been wandering for?" asked Kisho.

"Three hours," sighed Ember.

"I say we just keep aiming for a random location and go from there," suggested Johnny.

"That's how we get lost brainiac," Ember snapped ready to deck him.

"How do **you** suppose we search for them?" demanded Johnny angrily.

"Well not by randomly wandering around!" yelled Ember.

"Before we get into a large fight, my digivice will guide us," piped up Victoria stepping in between the ghosts.

"Oh," was their only response.

Victoria and Renamon stared down at the digivice hoping for a clue. At first it was just blank refusing to tell them any hint of the other digidestineds surroundings until…

"I see a green and dark grey!" Kisho exclaimed excitedly looking at his own digivice.

"Mark and James are definitely around, only question is…where?" Victoria sighed staring at her own trying to get the same lock as Kisho.

"I take it we're on the move again?" Labramon asked tired. He was lying on the sand resting his tired legs.

"No doubt in my mind. How far are they?" Ember asked.

"You don't want to know, perhaps around couple of hours," Victoria sighed watching at the sun was getting low. "Let's see what kind of trouble these two are getting into."

'_Not if my shadow gets there first,'_ thought Johnny wickedly. His facial expression turned into that of a sinister laughing one.

"Johnny, what are you thinking?" questioned Ember and Victoria curiously.

"Nothing," Johnny replied slyly. "Shadow, search of Mark and James and don't be afraid to give them a dose of bad luck." Ember and Victoria stared at each other with narrowed eyes as Johnny's shadow flew into the air, disappearing from sight. Johnny grinned slyly looking after his shadow. The two girls turned to Johnny and smacked his arms as hard as they could.

"Ow! What?" Johnny yelped.

"You're incredible," both sighed exasperatedly.

"Come on, before we all get into a big serious fight," Renamon groaned as she felt a headache coming through.

"I agree, I thought we weren't all children here," Kisho piped up.

"Those are bold words for someone your age," Ember mentioned, grinning.

The six made their way through the desert continuing their way hopefully in the right track, how hard could it be to not get lost? Victoria remained out in the front of the group holding on to her digivice as four blinking lights flashed on the screen with a few others around it, but there was still some distance between them.

Back at the restaurant, James held on to two plates cautiously strolling through the double doors to the main room. He had already dropped fifteen plates already that day, he didn't know it but Mark was getting fed up with the whole mishaps. They had been there for a week and a half already and James was making his life a living hell, maybe not on purpose but it sure felt like it.

Out in the dining room, Johnny's shadow snuck through the crack in the door way undetected. The digimon that sat at the tables didn't pay any attention to the shadow. He moved in eyeing his victim dead center who was still cautiously moving with plates in his hands. A nervous look seemed to be planted on his face. He had been clumsy enough, he didn't need any more. Shadow grinned wickedly waiting for the right moment.

"Hurry up with those!"

"Chill, I don't feel like wasting any more food thank you very much."

"Giving me back talk now are you?"

"No, I'm being honest."

Shadow saw the right time, he tripped James' feet causing both plates to go flying on top of the digimon's heads. The other digimon around roared with laughter at the sight. Vegiemon was turning bright red with fury.

"You clumsy oaf. That is going to be another day."

James shuffled away into the kitchen pride broken. He didn't know just how to face Mark after that incident. Mark was helping him to be a little better with keeping his composure and not drop the plates. He had been doing all right, just with the odd dropping of the plates when Vegiemon yelled at him.

"James, what happened?" Mark asked refusing to look at him. He obviously heard the laughter and didn't want to deal with the outcome of James' new look.

"Slight accident. I swear Mark, it wasn't my fault."

"Whose it is then James? You can't keep blaming the fact that Vegiemon keeps yelling at you or that the customers were getting frustrated."

James sighed as he attempted at put away the dishes. He had an inkling that Mark's eyes were on him, making sure that he didn't drop any more dishes.

Outside DemiDevimon was plotting his next scheme to cause the boys more time in the kitchen. By the restaurant was a table with crates upon crates of potatoes. Underneath we wooden surface were bricks holding up the crates.

"Everything is going perfectly. Those two will be slaving in that kitchen for life," DemiDevimon turned to the table of potatoes. "Hmm looks like a likely spot for another little accident."

Inside he could hear Mark's voice call over to James. "Can you get me a crate of potatoes James?"

"Potatoes, on it," James replied.

DemiDevimon snickered wickedly as he took out a brick easily causing the table to become wobbly.

"Those potatoes falling will cause them another month of work. Hehehe."

Yumi, who was hiding behind a small building out of view of DemiDevimon narrowed her eyes down with hatred. Acting quickly, she made her way over to the table placing another brick into the empty spot. She could head footsteps heading toward the door. Ducking in time, she ran back to her hiding spot and watched James exit the restaurant.

James made his way over to the table and took a crate of potatoes. With no incident, he made his way back to the kitchen.

DemiDevimon, who watched from above was flabbergasted by the sight. He was sure that his trick would have done the trick.

"How is that possible? My plans are not going to be foiled by mere children," grumbled DemiDevimon.

"As long as I'm here, no one is going to cause my friends to suffer," Yumi vowed. "Besides, I'm the only one capable of doing that."

Back with the other group, daytime had arrived causing the group to continue to move. The six continued their way down the path leading toward the restaurant. Johnny still on his motorcycle, Ember flying over head while the two humans and two digimon remained on foot. The distance didn't seem too far for them, the one thankful notion that everyone realized, there was no humidity, and it wasn't completely dry.

"How much further?" asked Renamon, her voice getting a tiny bit whinny.

"Shouldn't be too long," replied Victoria. She knew that Renamon was dying to rest and get out of the sun for some time.

"Don't you guys have any other way to communicate? I don't know, maybe using a walkie talkie or cell phones?" Ember stated.

"None of us brought cell phones and we never had walkie talkies to begin with."

"What good are you then?"

"Don't test me McClain. I don't deal well with heat, and attitude."

"Oh I spiked a nerve didn't I?" she retorted smirking.

"Hey, enough you two! This is no time to fight!" Kisho and Renamon snapped.

"We weren't fighting, we were disagreeing," Victoria replied innocently.

"Right," Renamon responded rolling her eyes.

"Oh look, a restaurant," Johnny piped up.

"Very observant dumbass," Ember shot.

"Don't you even dare start," warned Labramon as Victoria smirked.

Johnny turned off his bike as Victoria and Kisho strolled past him heading up the stairs. Ember and Renamon were right behind the two anxious to see what was behind the doors.

Inside the restaurant Bearmon and Gaomon were busy scrubbing the floors and clearing off tables absentmindedly. The two looked miserable about being in this situation, it was almost torture to be doing some cleaning.

"Bearmon! Gaomon! What is going on?" Victoria and Kisho asked surprised.

"Victoria, you've returned! And you brought Kisho," Gaomon and Bearmon replied excitedly. "You also brought friends with you. By the way, who are they?"

"Bearmon, Gaomon meet Johnny 13 and Ember McClain," Victoria introduced.

"Either of you seen a shadow around here?" Johnny asked looking around half expecting to see his shadow around.

"Nope, can't say I have," Bearmon replied.

"So I take it that Mark's here?" Kisho asked.

"And James right Bear?"

"Yeah, he's here…but…uh…little heads up, there have been some…tension between them," Gaomon answered.

"Why does that **not** surprise me?"

"I take it that they've done this before?" Ember asked curiously?"

"Get on each others nerves? Yes. Being stuck in the kitchen for a period of time? No."

Kisho ran off to the back before Victoria or the others had a chance to move. Johnny followed behind them, wanting to find his shadow. The remaining five finally turned to see that Kisho and Johnny disappeared, rolling her eyes, Victoria headed to the kitchen with the others.

Meanwhile, Kisho ran through the swinging doors, a huge smile on his face. He wanted to force it on to show Mark that everything was okay. Instead of seeing Mark however, he spotted James working away. Around his feet unknown to the humans was a shadow that was ready to strike at any given moment. Johnny seemed to have noticed him but didn't say anything yet. He had gone intangible right before entering the kitchen so he wouldn't been spotted by James. He smirked as his shadow circled James' feet like a shark.

"Hey James," Victoria called opening the door as Kisho moved in further.

"Victoria, Renamon, Kisho, Labramon, it is so good to see the four of you again," James replied happily, not realizing that Victoria had a friend.

"It's good to see you too James, where's my brother?" Kisho asked.

"Outback."

"Where's 13?" Renamon asked sniffing the air as soon as Kisho left. The question was directed toward Victoria and Ember.

"Who?" James inquired.

"Johnny 13, a biker. This is Ember McClain," Victoria replied waving her hand toward Ember who seemed to be observing the kitchen.

"The singer, I remember her now," James remarked.

"As long as you never forget my name, you'll live to see another day."

Outside, Mark lay resting on the grass staring at the passing clouds trying to clear his mind. He was still irritable by the fact that James dropped every dish and destroyed every meal. Mark wanted nothing more than to leave the restaurant and James behind.

"Mark!" shrieked Kisho freaking Mark out in the process.

"Kisho, what are you doing here little man?" Mark asked worried that he left on his own.

"We wanted to come search for you. I thought that you wanted to leave me there."

"Sorry little bro, things came up. Since we're together again, everything is back to how it should be," Mark responded sitting up. "So you and Labramon decided to go on your own?"

"No," Kisho simply said.

"Then who is the **we**?"

"Hey Mark," Victoria called from the doorway, her arms folded in front of her.

"Victoria, long time no see," Mark replied.

"Apparently you've got some weird things happening," Vitoria replied grimly. _'And I know at least one of the problems too.'_

"You don't know the half of it. Kisho I'm truly sorry I didn't keep my promise to come get you. You know I will always keep my promises."

"No harm done, I trust you brother, always have always will."

"I say we get out of this god forsaken place before anything else happens."

"Run away?"

"No, we simply walk through those doors and tell them we're leaving. Of course run away…sorry…sorry, I'm trying to keep my temper down."

"Yeah, that could end well."

"Listen to me, all right! I am in no mood to stay here and work. **We** have to find the others. If you think…" Victoria was cut short by the sound of crashing inside.

"Shit!" screamed James.

Inside James was on the ground massaging his back side where he landed. Johnny reappeared hysterically laughing at the sight. His shadow appeared as well, snickering. Ember, who was by the door where Victoria stood, fought the urge to laugh.

"You've got to be kidding me," groaned Mark from his spot. Although he didn't get up, he could hear and just imagine exactly what happened.

"That's exactly why I don't want to leave. We **would** have been gone sooner if **he** wasn't trying to sabotage our chances of freedom."

"Whoa, chill out Mark," snapped Victoria turning her head back to him after watching James get to his feet. Ember rolled her eyes at the immaturity of Johnny who was still rolling on the ground.

"He doesn't want to work together. He's enjoying the torture of me working."

"How **DARE** you say that Mark! James is not that kind of person!"

"Right, what kind of person is he anyway? I don't get why you're defending him in the first place. You've never liked him in the first place."

"I AM NOT DEFENDING him. All I want to do is get the hell out of here!"

"Then why don't you? You're the reason we all got separate in the first place!"

Renamon had to hold back Victoria stopping her from attacking Mark "This is not the time or the place to start this!"

"Mark, knock it off! You should…"

"Shut up Kisho!" Mark snapped causing Kisho to back away with eyes filled with shock. "Just…be quiet and come with me," Mark said with a change of voice.

"Well, well, well. You weren't planning on running away were you? That would make me every angry."

"Wow, overgrown mutated egg. Is that seriously who you're scared of?" Victoria laughed coldly.

"Hey! Who are you calling mutated?"

"I call them like I see them."

"Running away **would** be a very bad idea," DemiDevimon snickered.

"Isn't that?" questioned James from the door way.

"Him again!" Kisho sneered.

"DemiDevimon!" growled Labramon.

"It's the evil bowling ball we met before," growled Renamon baring her teeth and unsheathing her claws.

"Liar!" shouted Mark.

"You lied to me, to make me come here…"

"A little slow on the up take isn't he?" Ember whispered to Victoria and Johnny.

"You're now getting the hint?" Labramon hissed.

"And you're the one that was wrecking everything."

"He wasn't the only one," snickered Johnny.

"Time to teach you a lesson!" Victoria yelled. "Renamon, show them what your made of."

"Diamond storm!"

"Retriever bark!"

Both attacks aimed straight for DemiDevimon causing him to jump side to side just to avoid them.

"Hey, hey, that smarts."

Labramon took off after DemiDevimon ready for another show down.

"It's going to get worse you little imp. You've messed with the wrong girl," seethed Victoria. "As for you-" Victoria pointed to Digitamamon. "How about you let them go! You don't want to deal with me or my digimon when we're furious," Victoria seethed, her voice dripping with venom.

"Oh, I am so scared. I am not going to have some child tell me what to do."

"Hmm, so you don't mind if I give you a piece of my mind then," snapped Renamon eyes narrowed.

"Do you truly think that you could actually do anything to stop me?" Digitamamon asked Victoria.

"She might not, but we could!" Renamon, Ember and Johnny replied standing in front of Victoria protectively staring at Digitamamon dangerously.

Digitamamon closed up his shell and aimed straight at Renamon, the two ghosts and Victoria sending them flying a few feet from Mark.

Mark stared furiously at Digitamamon as Gaomon stood at his partner's side ready for action. Renamon, Ember and Johnny all got to their feet glaring at Digitamamon.

"It any of you want to leave, you'll have to go through me."

"If you say so. Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon! Spiral blow!"

The attack did no damage as it crashed on the closed shell. Bearmon was the first to realize this.

"His shell! His shell is closed so the blast has no effect."

"Very perspective."

"Where's Kisho?" asked Victoria alarmed.

"Mark!"

"Holy shit! The mutated vegetable has him!"

"Call off your beast!"

"Mark! Victoria! Help me!"

"I'll get him," Johnny announced.

Victoria continued to stare at Vegiemon, realizing one problem they were facing. Vegiemon had Kisho in a bind around his ankle dangling him from the rooftops.

"Johnny, wait. One wrong move and Kisho could be on the ground severely hurt."

"Nice of your brother to hang around," snickered Digitamamon.

"Somebody! Come get me down! Getting light headed here!"

"Tori, you can't let us stand by. Ember, get underneath him, Johnny go from above," instructed Renamon.

"That is going way too far!" James yelled.

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Hey, back off, or the kids lunchmeat," Vegiemon yelled as Grizzlymon growled dangerously at him.

"Renamon digivolve to Kyubimon!"

"Oh no, a tag team," Vegiemon said sarcastically.

On top of the roof, James carefully edged along toward Vegiemon hoping for a sneak attack of his own. Johnny, who was already intangible floated in front of Vegiemon waiting for James.

"You are not getting away with this!" yelled James lunging at Vegiemon knocking him and Kisho to the ground. Johnny grabbed hold of James' hand easing his down to the ground, while Ember scooped up Kisho before the collision with the ground. She flew over to Victoria and gently placed Kisho on the ground. Mark ran over to Kisho worried.

"Hey, let go of me!" screamed James who in a complete body bind along with Johnny.

"He's caught James and Johnny!" Kisho cried out.

"Technically, only James, Johnny can escape," Victoria mentioned.

"I don't think he can get out," Ember and Kyubimon hissed.

"What do…?" Victoria asked turning to face Johnny and James. Johnny was still in the bind forcing himself to go intangible.

"James!" screamed Mark.

"Mark, you were right, you always said that we had to work together to get out of this mess. Now it looks like it's my turn," James groaned as Vegiemon tightened his grip on the two.

"Johnny!" screamed Ember desperately.

"What are we going to do? We have to help him!"

"Grizzlymon, blast him! I'm fine!"

"Tell your friend that I'm a very short tempered digimon!"

"Trust me, they've dealt with worse buddy. James! Johnny! Hang in there!"

"Whoa, oh man. Even after I accused him and yelled at him, he still risked his life for Kisho. James! No!"

"I see you don't know when to quit! I'll destroy the three of you in one shot! Nightmare syndrome!"

"Not while I'm around!" declared Ember turning a dial on her guitar and striking a cord aiming the attack directly at Digitamamon. The attack did some effect, but it wasn't soon enough to stop the attack from hitting Kyubimon, Grizzly and Gaogamon in the process.

"Ha, do you truly think a pathetic attack like that is going to stop me?"

"Oh gods."

"What do we do? What do we do? Their too strong!"

"We can't just give up! We've got to beat them. James sacrificed himself for Kisho. Now, it's up to me! Gaogamon!"

"Grizzlymon!" chocked out James from the clutches.

Both crests began to glow from each boy causing their digimon to go to the next level.

"Gaogamon digivolve to…" Gaogamon went from being on four legs to two legs. His fore arms and the lower parts of legs were robotic. He had a red belt crossing his upper body. On his back was a rocket pack. "MachGaogamon!"

"Grizzlymon digivolve to…" As for Grizzlymon, he digivolved into what appeared to be a robotic bull doll with red eyes. "Caturamon!"

Both digimon began to change shape, Ember and Johnny looked on in awe.

"MachGaogamon is the ultimate form of Gaomon. He is a cyborg digimon who carries a rocket on his back making for great hit and run attacks. Egg head and his bat buddy won't stand a chance," Mark analyzed.

"Caturamon is the ultimate form of Bearmon. He is one of the twelve devas. His treasure mallet will send egg head flying," James analyzed.

"Do you truly think your little doggies can hurt me? Don't make me laugh. Nightmare syndrome."

"Does he have to keep saying 'do you truly think?'" Ember groaned.

The attack came flying out toward MachGaogamon and Caturamon who easily blocked it.

"Impossible."

"That was just the beginning," sneered Mark.

"You're never going to get away with this," remarked Victoria.

Caturamon and MachGaogamon sent the attack back towards Digitamamon with all their strength they could muster. Digitamamon went flying into nearby trees.

"They…they beat Digitamamon," Vegiemon gasped.

"Aye, aye, aye, it's time for me to fly."

"Finally the annoying things is gone," scoffed Victoria and Labramon.

"Vegiemon, you better let them go. The digimon don't look too pleased."

The three digimon towered over Vegiemon, making him seem very insignificant. Caturamon let out a low growl as he bared his teeth. MachGaogamon balled up his mechanical arms threateningly. Kyubimon growled dangerously.

"You don't want to mess with us."

"I…uh…agh!" Vegiemon screamed releasing James and Johnny as he ran toward the forest overly scared.

"Awesome job guys!" Victoria called.

"How are you feeling Johnny?" asked Ember.

"I loathe vegetables more than ever now," Johnny shuddered.

"James, I…um…wish to apologize for the way I acted toward you. It was rude, uncalled for and blatantly disrespectful."

"No harm done dude. I'm just really glad that we're all safe."

Further away from the restaurant, close to the water, DemiDevimon coward on the ground as he grovelled for his forgiveness toward a darken figure.

"Myotismon, two of the humans got their crests of sacrifice and ambition to glow and call forth MachGaogamon and Caturamon."

"What?" roared Myotismon.

"I tried, but…"

"Perhaps your brain is too small for this job."

Bats began to swarm around DemiDevimon nipping at him. "Hey you rotten digimon, you'll pay for this."

Strolling down the path the ten continued their way away from the restaurant. Their hard work obviously paid off in the end. Victoria filled them in with what she saw in the real world and see what kind of reaction she get.

"So everything is linked? If we don't fix things here, then our world will be in trouble too," Mark exclaimed.

"Well duh," Ember replied mockingly.

"Ember!" Renamon said sharply.

A beeping sound soon went off again signalling that more of the digidestineds had been located.

"It's going off again," Kisho piped up.

Victoria and Renamon gave Ember a dirty look for her to shut up, there might have been opening for more sarcasm.

"Well, I believe this is leading us in the right direction, we're soon going to find our friends," Victoria replied taking out her digivice to see a pink dot.

"Which direction do we go then?" asked Johnny.

"Mines pointing out there, unfortunately," Victoria grumbled staring with hatred at the pink dot.

"Mine says their off this way," Mark chimed in.

"Well, I suppose the best way to do this is to split off again, cover more ground," Victoria suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Kisho, you're with me," Mark said quickly.

"I guess James is coming with Ember and I," Victoria sighed.

"Hey, what about me?" whined Johnny.

"You're going with Mark and Kisho. I need all the sanity I can get."

"Dude, I want to find the girls."

"Guess what, you might get your chance," Victoria and Ember said in unison ready to attack him.

"I say so we can find each other again, we meet at the foot of that mountain," Mark insisted.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Once again, we split off in search of our friends, where we'll wind up, only time will tell," Kisho muttered solemnly.

"Kisho, cheer up. We'll be together again," Mark promised.

"Have fun," Victoria called out in a sing song voice.

**A/N: Hey everyone, so I attempted to make this chapter my own. Sorry for not using Johnny and Ember more in this. Can you tell that Victoria is going to loath her search.**

**Johnny: You're sending me off with a bunch of guys?**

**Me: Victoria needs her sanity.**

**Johnny: What am I? Chop liver?**

**Me, Victoria and Ember:…yes!**

**Johnny: Hey, not cool.**

**Ember: (sarcastically) so will our search be fun and exciting?**

**Victoria: Ha, I doubt it.**

**Me: Not telling, the readers have to find out for themselves.**

**Youngblood: I feel so left out!**

**Me: Easy, we'll all see you soon.**

**Ember and Johnny: Yeah right.**

**Me: Till later, cya**


	29. Relationships are tested

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and ProtogirlT for your reviews, greatly appreciated. Here is the new chapter, I promise it truly is going to be my idea more then using the show. Just added a few things. Enjoy! ^^**

**Chapter 29**

**Relationships are tested**

Yukito, Robert, Penguinmon and Tentomon continued their trek through the digital world on their own. Neither one had a clue of where they were going both had to admit; at least they weren't in the desert any more. The four managed to get themselves near a rocky mountain, sure fine sign that they were lost.

"Robert, we need to rest. I'm not even sure if Penguinmon or Tentomon can move any further. You've just been forcing yourself, thinking that you need to keep moving. I know you're exhausted, I see it in your eye," Yukito said concerned watching Penguinmon and Tentomon weave as they walked.

"I agree, but we need to keep going just a little further," Robert replied his voice hoarse.

"Robert, you know I love you, but seriously, you haven't rested at all. You have been on your feet every second, even when we were resting, you were still pacing. I'm pretty sure the sun probably friend your brain. So please, just a ten minute break and we'll keep going okay?" Yukito instructed his hands upon Robert's shoulders causing him to stop moving and face him.

"I don't know how you do it, but all right, we'll rest. Fair enough?"

"Very, thank you."

Yukito kissed Robert's cheek before sitting on a nearby rock. Penguinmon collapsed on the ground exhausted while Tentomon sat down letting out a sigh of relief.

Robert started to get anxious all of a sudden, as if he couldn't get comfy. He had only just sat down and already he couldn't stop fidgeting.

Yukito noticed this and stared at him concerned, they were inches from each other. Yukito had seen this multiple times before with Robert. Robert was a mover, even if it killed him in the process.

"Robert, just calm down and breathe. There is no sense in getting all fidgety over nothing. I promise you, we'll keep moving," Yukito assured. "Besides, what's going on with you lately?" "I just can't believe that we haven't seen Gennai in a long time."

"Is that what you're truly worried about?" Yukito asked stunned.

"Well…I…"

"Robert, we haven't heard from him since our departure for this land. Do you truly believe that he'll just show up now?" Yukito asked seriously.

"There wouldn't be any harm in looking would there?"

"Tentomon, Penguinmon, help me out here. Tell Robert that the search would be pointless and our main concern is to find the others," Yukito pleaded desperately.

"Tried, he refuses to listen to reason," Tentomon answered solemnly.

"I highly doubt he'll listen to me," Penguinmon replied.

"Robert, come here. Lean on my shoulder and relax," ordered Yukito wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"You've always been so good to me Yukito. What would I truly do without you?" Robert wondered resting his head on Yukito's shoulder.

"No idea. I think you would go insane," laughed Yukito.

"Aw, sweet love. Completely disgusting. Too bad it's not going to last long," thought DemiDevimon. He was standing high above the boys watching their every move careful not to be caught. He had a new plan formulating inside his tiny brain. He knew who was up in these mountains and how to use this to his advantage.

Ten minutes seemed to just fly by with the boys; the digimon seemed to be well rested as well. Getting to their feet the four continued their trek up the rocky path. Neither one was sure what to expect in this barren area, but it was worth the chance to check it out.

DemiDevimon flew down to a near by clutter of rocks away from the group and hid from site waiting for the right moment.

"Does anyone else have that odd feeling that we're not alone on this mountain?" Tentomon asked uneasy.

"Are you feeling all right up there Tento?" Penguinmon asked, looking up.

"I have this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that we are not alone."

"You're not sharing the same alien theory as Robert are you?"

"What? You don't like the alien theory?" Robert joked.

"Don't even go there," warned Yukito.

"Stop fighting and keep moving. The sooner we get to the top the better," Penguinmon snapped.

"He gets **that** from you," Robert teased.

As the boys joked about their digimon, a rumbling could be felt underneath their feet engulfing Penguinmon first followed by Yukito leaving Robert and Tentomon to stare in shock.

"What…just happened?" Robert stuttered seeing the now closed hole.

"I wish I knew. Oh bios, where did they go?"

Meanwhile, Yukito and Penguinmon fell down the dark space, screaming as they saw their impending doom. How could they actually fall for something like this? This couldn't be the end already, could it?

"Penguinmon, help!" screamed Yukito feeling his heart just race with fear.

"Yukito, hold on!" shouted Penguinmon. 'I wish I could help somehow. Tentomon I need your ability to fly,' Penguinmon thought desperately as he tried and failed to grab Yukito's outstretching hand.

Further and further the two plummeted to their own unknown deaths. Yukito mentally pleaded and begged for his survival along with Penguinmon's. He had too much to live for, not to mention, there was still so much for him to discover here.

"HELP!" screamed Yukito as the two disappeared further.

Within seconds the boys were saved by an invisible force. Around Penguinmon's waist was a blow up life saver. Underneath Yukito was a large beach ball. Yukito held on to dear life worried one wrong move could cause him to fall.

"Who the? Penguinmon what's going on?" Yukito asked.

"I wish I knew, but I have no clue."

"Very well, if your not going to be very appreciative for my assistance than I shall dispose of those keeping you suspended in the air," a voice came through the dark space.

"No, I didn't mean it that way. We weren't expecting someone to be here," Yukito quickly replied his heart racing with anticipation. "Thank you though."

"Well, since you're thankful," the voice mused.

Yukito felt his jaw drop at the sight of the figure. Out of all the digimon they had seen since arriving, this one definitely took the cake for weirdness. It appeared to be an alien with eight tentacles and a massive brain.

'_Something tells me I'm going to owe Robert a massive apology.'_ Yukito thought.

"Meet Vademon was living proof you should stay away from digimon with usually large heads. That big brain of his was scrambled if you asked me," Penguinmon analyzed.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are we?" Penguinmon asked.

"My personally designed universe, if you must know."

"How do we get back to the mountain?" Yukito asked.

"Such a dull boy for asking so much. What is your rush to leave this place?"

"We need to get back to our friend," Yukito replied with urgency in his voice.

"A friend, hmm. Is this friend perhaps that boy you were with?" Vademon simpered.

"Yes, he must be worried sick."

"Do not worry dear boy. Wait right here and I'll bring him to you."

"What? No, wait!" Yukito cried out watching Vademon leave. Without warning, the beach ball popped causing Yukito to fall back to the black pit.

"Penguinmon, help!" screamed Yukito desperately searching for a hand.

Penguinmon dived for Yukito doing his best to catch him, if what Vademon said was true, Penguinmon knew Yukito would want to see Robert.

Outside, Tentomon was flying in a circle trying to locate Yukito or Penguinmon. It was a last desperation to make Robert feel calmer. He had been searching for ten minutes and still nothing. He felt completely defeated, which made him feel upset.

"Any sign Tento?" Robert called out.

"Still nothing, Robert, I don't think they're even around here anymore."

"They have to be, his dot is still strong."

Tentomon landed next to Robert who was getting edgy refusing to sit still for too long.

"Robert, you need to relax and take a deep breath. We will find them I assure you on that. You freaking out is not helping matters."

Robert looked at Tentomon with sad eyes. He wished he could believe his digimon. Oh how he wished that things could go back to the way they were. It is not like Yukito to up and leave, even if the ground had suddenly opened up, swallowing the two. It just made no sense as to why the dot would be so strong in this particular area.

"Perhaps you are right. I need to trust that Yukito is all right."

"There's the Robert I know."

As Robert stood up from his spot, the ground once again opened up underneath him sucking both him and Tentomon into the same unknown area as Yukito and Penguinmon.

"Tentomon!"

"Robert, I'm right here!" cried out Tentomon attempting to reach for Robert's outstretched hand.

Tentomon grabbed hold of Robert's hand giving momentary sense of safety. Robert's heart was pounding wildly as he held on to Tentomon's claws allowing him a peace of mind.

"Are you all right Robert?" Tentomon asked.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm all right," Robert gasped refusing to look down.

"Where are we?" Tentomon asked looking around."

"My guess is another dimension. That or something Yumi would think up."

"Robert, I'm not able to hold on any longer."

"Tentomon, don't let me fall!"

Robert could feel his hand slip with all the sweat building up. He feared the worst with each slip that was being made. Robert looked horrified at Tentomon silently telling him to hold on tighter.

"NO!" screamed Robert when his hand completely lost grip with Tentomon.

"ROBERT!"

Tentomon flew down into the dark abyss determined to save his partner, what he never expected was something to save both of them. For Robert, he was riding what appeared to be a giant size rubber ducky. Tentomon was in a life preserver just like Penguinmon.

"That was a close call. But who rescued us?"

"I did, my name is Vademon," replied a voice inside an orb. He sat in a meditative position as he looked at them.

"Where are we?"

"Questions, questions, questions. A boy already asked that question, but if you wish to know. This is my universe."

"Wait? Another boy? That means that Yukito is here. Where is he?" questioned Robert looking around half expecting to see Yukito.

"Oh that other boy? He told me that he never wanted to see you again," Vademon lied.

"No, that's not true. Yukito would never say that."

"He told me himself. Although, I told him that it would be wise to stay with the ones he loves."

"Not true, Yukito doesn't like to being fully left on his own from me. How could he possible say that?"

"Come now, you mustn't let those memories cloud your mind. I don't appreciate those things to cloud my universe."

"I don't get it. Yukito and I have always been so close, what could possibly have changed?"

"You don't seem to get it do you? There is no space in here for your doubts or worries."

"But I'm…"

"There you go again. You don't even know your doing it. If you're going to keep it up, then I suppose you could spend your time in the black void," Vademon sniped popping the rubber ducky causing Robert to fall to his doom.

"Tentomon, help!"

"Robert hold on!"

Tentomon rushed after him hoping that he would have enough time to get him to safety. Robert's heart raced with anxiety as he grasped onto Tentomon's claw.

"Will you give up your memories or will both of you suffer the consequences?"

"I can't go without my memories."

"So be it."

Both Tentomon and Robert fell toward the endless black put screaming with terror.

"I don't want to die. I don't need my memories!"

"Excellent."

Moments passed when Robert and Tentomon came to another section of the universe truly looking like space. Stars, planets and asteroids surrounded the two when things came to a stand still.

"Now where are we?"

Silence.

"Robert? Earth to Robert?" Tentomon asked uneasy.

"Welcome, your memory is in this sack. You don't need it any more, and I don't want it messing up my universe. I just hate having clutter. If it's not needed I zap it," Vademon commented. He took out his gun zapping the sac of Robert's memories.

"Robert, you can't let that creep take what is so precious from you," Tentomon argued.

"Back off you pest," Vademon snapped zapping Tentomon with the gun. "Now that that's done, I want you to read my latest book: It's all you need to know."

"All you need to know whether you like it not," Robert muttered absentmindedly. "In order to be one with the universe, one must erase all thoughts."

"But your thoughts are something you cherish, especially with Yukito."

"It is important to breathe into your thoughts until they disintegrate and slowly turn into mush. The less you think about the happier you'll be."

"And the more miserable Yukito and Penguinmon will become.

Vademon chortled wickedly as he entered a room filled with shelves containing containers filled with various objects and random artefacts.

"That'll keep those two brats under control. Speaking of which, let's see how the other one is doing."

Yukito floated in the space worry and concern filling him. He desperately wanted to see Robert so bad. How long did it take for the alien freak to bring him here?

"Yukito, you have to snap out of it," Penguinmon said worriedly.

"I'm so worried about Robert. I don't care if it's only been a few minutes since we last saw each other, but to me it feels like longer. It's so different when we're in the human world, were always so close, we know where the other one is. When we're together, it's hard to split apart," Yukito admitted.

"Well, when Vademon comes back, we can ask if he has them and if we can see them," Penguinmon assured.

"I suppose."

"Ah, right where I left you, good," Vademon said.

"Where's Robert and Tentomon?" demanded Yukito getting out of his sulky depressed state.

"Oh, those two. I'm afraid that your friend Robert said he no longer wants to see you," lied Vademon.

"What? No, that can't be true. Robert would never say that."

"It's true. He's getting sick and tired with dealing with an emotional clingy boy such as you."

"He wouldn't say that about me, he wouldn't."

"See for yourself and tell me what is going on."

Vademon waved his hand revealing a portal connecting Yukito to Robert. Yukito floated through it followed by Penguinmon leaving a smirking Vademon.

Robert currently was moving his body in weird shapes, all relating to the alphabet. He easily bent his body to each letter as she spoke each one.

Tentomon flew around him concerned that he wasn't in any rush to find Yukito or Penguinmon. Maybe those two could snap him out, wherever they might be. He was getting concerned about Penguinmon himself, trying to understand what exactly was going on and if he was all right.

Yukito floated through the strange place desperately searching for his presence, and then he would not have to worry so much.

"Yukito, wait for me," cried out a desperate Penguinmon.

"That voice…it sounds like…it is! Yukito! Penguinmon! Over here!" cried out Tentomon.

Yukito could feel a sigh of relief come over him knowing he found at least Tentomon, Robert couldn't be that far behind. Floating ever closer to Tentomon, Yukito's smiles grew on his face.

"Tentomon, where's Robert?"

"Somewhere, I have to warn you though. He's not himself," cautioned Tentomon.

"What do you…?"

"TENTOMON!" shrieked Penguinmon reaching them. He wrapped his flippers around Tentomon happily.

"So good to see you too."

Yukito turned his head when he heard the faint voice of Robert in the distance. It sounded odd in Yukito's ears hearing his voice.

"Q…R…S…"

"Robert?"

Yukito went to investigate the situation while the digimon got reacquainted again.

Meanwhile, Vademon was back in his little shop chortling once again as he admired all his little collections he required over the years.

"I've got a warehouse filled with memories and other cast away items and all of them are for sale. There's always somebody who wants to buy junk and I know the salesman who can give them a bargain," Vademon snickered. "Vademon dreams and memories salesman extraordinaire," he gloated. "A penny for your thoughts and a nickel for your fears."

As he was still in daydream mode, the sound of a doorbell snapped him out of his trance.

"Haha, that was quick. Coming, coming!"

DemiDevimon hovered in front of a post with a doorbell on it, waiting 'patiently' for Vademon to answer. A little patch of the ground began to move revealing Vademon coming out.

"Welcome, have I got a bargain for you," Vademon simpered scaring the crap out of DemiDevimon.

"I hope so."

"I'm running a sale right now. Dreams and curiosities at a bottom line prices, I'm telling you they're a steal."

"Whoa. Did anyone in this picture happen to tumble into your universe?" DemiDevimon asked holding a picture of Yukito and Robert talking while Penguinmon and Tentomon were resting.

"Why yes they did."

"Perfect."

"You must be in the market for memories, I'll fetch them for you," Vademon said disappearing back down the whole. DemiDevimon looked down curiously wondering what the digimon was doing. In no time, he was back up with Robert's memories.

"They're very fresh. If you're looking for brain garbage, this is the place."

"I'm looking for something else," snapped DemiDevimon. Vademon was not looking thrilled at his response.

"Don't try to give me a hard time or I'll get mad," warned Vademon.

DemiDevimon took out another picture of Robert holding his crest. "I want this. The kid in the picture was carrying a tag and a crest with him."

Vademon narrowed his eyes and turned away from DemiDevimon. "That's something I ordinarily don't carry, it's a very expensive item."

"Hmm, how about I trade you him for some of my curiosity," DemiDevimon grinned playing to Vademon's game.

"Hmm? He must have a mountain of curious thoughts," thought Vademon excitedly. He couldn't help but drool over it.

"So what do you say Vademon, is it a deal or not?" DemiDevimon asked.

"It certainly is. I can tell just by looking at you that you are a wacky digimon with enough thoughts to make me a fortune."

Vademon once again disappeared down the hole leaving DemiDevimon alone on the mountain.

Back in the universe, Robert was still moving his body in the alphabet, while Yukito desperately trued to snap him out of it.

"Robert! Can you hear me? Please answer me!" Yukito pleaded.

"Leave me alone, I'm meditating," snapped Robert still in his trance.

"Robert, please. You're not thinking clearly."

"I'm thinking perfectly well. I don't need you to interfere with my thoughts."

"What has gotten into you? Don't you remember me?"

"Leave me alone!"

"Robert!"

Seconds passed when Vademon decided to make another appearance in the same bubble. Robert sensed this and bowed to him in respect. Yukito was overly confused what had that freak down to him? He was thankful though that Tentomon was still in a normal state.

"There's something I forgot to mention to you."

"Oh yes, and what's that?"

"In order to fully improve you must throw away possessions that are considered excess garbage."

"Such as?"

"Just about everything except your clothes."

"Of course," said Robert taking things out of his pockets and releasing them to the space. He soon came to his crest and stared at it. "This is expendable."

Vademon laughed as Robert carelessly threw it into the space where the crest floated toward Vademon.

"As for you boy, you have two options, willingly give up all that you possess or I will forcibly remove them myself."

"You are not getting anywhere near my belongings, especially my crest."

"Very well, you leave me no choice then," Vademon used his guns and zapped Yukito willing him immobile. Vademon took the crest from him. "See, now that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

Yukito slowly began to move again with slight problems as the effects of the gun wore off.

"Ugh. Bastard…how dare you…you are not getting away with this," gasped Yukito as the pain continued to shoot through his system.

"Apparently I already did," laughed Vademon as he disappeared.

"Robert, what were you thinking?" demanded Tentomon.

"Leave me alone."

Back on the surface Vademon returned with both crests to DemiDevimon. Once again DemiDevimon was startled out of his wits at Vademon popping up. "So sorry to keep you waiting."

"Yeah, all right. Give me the goods."

"Wait, don't you remember the deal that we made? I want a piece of your brain!"

"I'm going to crank out some of my thoughts," DemiDevimon landed on the ground, his back to Vademon concentrating. "I'm trying, but it's hard to get them out of my head."

"Hurry up!"

"They're stuck."

"I'll help," Vademon said angrily kicking DemiDevimon causing his to go flying toward the rocks.

Back in the weird dimension, Yukito continued to plead with Robert hoping something would knock some sense into him. With the boys completely distracted it was causing the digimon to feel the affect of it all.

"I…I feel so weak," both digimon sighed weakly.

"Yukito, I need you," called out a tired Penguinmon.

"Robert, don't do this to me. You are the love of my life. I'm begging you," Yukito's desperate voice called uselessly.

"M…N…O…P." Robert was no longer listening to those around him.

"I…I can't hold on much longer," Tentomon gasped degenerating back to Motimon. "Motimon."

"Oh no, Motimon! Yukito! Robert! Snap out of it!" cried Penguinmon also feeling the effects of degenerating back to Tsunomon.

"Huh?" Robert wondered seeing the two in-training digimon. Yukito turned his head as well shocked filling his entire system.

"Their energy, it's being drained," realized Yukito. In seconds both returned to their baby forms.

"Pabu, Pabu," the little Pabumon whimpered.

"Puni, Puni," the little red blob Punimon whimpered.

"What have we done?" Yukito whispered.

"Pabumon?" questioned Robert relatively snapping him out of it. "What did I tell you about interrupting me when I'm meditating?"

"Robert, have you forgotten who I am already, Robert? Have you forgotten who you are?" Pabumon cried sending bubbles toward Robert. Each bubble held a memory inside each one.

"Robert, you've made me the happiest guy on the planet to have you. Thank you very much for being with me," Yukito's voice sounded.

"I don't know what I'd possibly do without you."

"We need to stick together no matter the cost."

Robert watched all of the memories go by and hearing those he loved and cared about go with them. Without warning, all of the bubbles began to pop causing Robert to reach out.

"No, stop. Don't leave."

"Robert, please don't forget," Yukito whispered holding on to Punimon, a look of sadness on his face.

"Pabumon, Yukito, I am so sorry for everything that has happened. I'm sorry," Robert apologized picking up Pabumon and hugging him.

"Just really glad to have you back Robert," Yukito said wrapping his one arm around Robert squeezing his shoulders."

Sounds of arguing could be heard in the distance, one belonging to Vademon the other to DemiDevimon.

"You lied, your nothing more than a weaselmon," shouted Vademon.

"Don't get bent out of shape. Give me a break, I'm going to get into big trouble," DemiDevimon argued.

"It is not my concern you pesky pipsqueak," Vademon replied uncaring.

Robert and Yukito raised their eyebrows with wondering eyes as a door soon appeared. Going closer the two looked through the glass window to see where the noise was coming from.

"Now beat it pal," yelled Vademon kicking

"Oh come on, Myotismon is going to **kill** me if I don't return with the crests."

"You've got yourself into this, you can get yourself out."

"Please I'm begging you, he's a big brute."

"Back off," Vademon sneered kicking DemiDevimon toward the shelves.

"Oh god, ever since I've lost my memories I haven't been looking on the brighter side."

"Well, we have bigger problems that," Yukito mumbled.

"You don't say," scoffed Robert.

"We need to get out of here. We'll figure out a plan on the way."

"But Vademon…" pleaded DemiDevimon.

"Get out!" yelled Vademon.

"Forget it!" DemiDevimon sneered right in Vademon's face.

"It's mine," Vademon announced.

"No it's not," argued back DemiDevimon.

"You want a bet?"

While the two digimon were arguing like little children, Robert, Yukito, Punimon and Pabumon snuck out of the universe to the little store. Punimon and Pabumon went bounding toward the end of the shelves toward the arguing digimon, completely ignoring their partners.

"Pabumon, come back."

"Punimon, get over here."

"Hey, they stole the tag and crest," Vademon said.

Pabumon and Punimon came bounding back with the crest in their mouths heading toward Yukito and Robert. DemiDevimon and Vademon ran after them yelling at the digimon. Yukito and Robert were standing at the door leading into the universe.

"Pabumon, Punimon over here!" both boys waved toward the two digimon.

Once the small digimon got to their partners, the two ran back into the room and hid while Vademon and DemiDevimon ran past them.

"Look out!" DemiDevimon shouted as the two skidded to a halt.

Turning back around, they could see Robert and Yukito on the other side a smirk on their faces as Yukito shut the door on them.

"Hurry!"

After locking it, the boys felt a little more relief wash over them knowing that they were safe on the one side. Robert and Yukito both looked at their crests with smiles on their faces.

"That was an awesome job Pabumon."

"You're a quick on Punimon."

As the boys placed the crests on their necks, Punimon and Pabumon were bouncing up and down trying to get their attention.

"You want us to follow you?"

"Pabu, Pabu!"

"Puni, Puni!"

As the boys ran away from the door, Vademon and DemiDevimon were yelling at the departing boys.

Robert and Yukito ran down toward the fourth set of shelves where Punimon and Pabumon were sitting waiting for them with a blue orb.

"Amazing, you found my memories. It was a mistake to ever give this up."

"Your memories are the greatest things for you to possess, and I'm glad that I'm apart of it," Yukito smiled.

"Well, it's time for it to become part of me again. I going to have to concentrate, hope this works."

While Robert held the orb close to himself, banging on the door could be heard as Vademon and DemiDevimon tried to force their way through.

"Come back to me my memories," Robert said.

As soon as the orb was back inside Robert, Vademon skidded to a halt with the gun in his hand.

"Ha, now you're going to pay for this."

"Run! Run!" yelled Yukito taking hold of Robert's hand and dragged him down the aisle as Vademon shot at them. Each turn that the boys made, Vademon was always behind them.

The door to the universe was right before them, allow them some safety, but also put them at risk of never escaping the place again.

"Robert!" Yukito screamed as the blast neared the boys once again.

The four ran into the universe again, their body immediately becoming weightlessness. Turning around to face their digimon the boys cried out desperately.

"Pabumon, it's time for you to digivolve!"

"Punimon hurry!"

The fresh level digimon quickly digivolved into their in-training levels. "Motimon."

"Tsunomon."

Yukito looked over at doorway to see that Vademon and DemiDevimon entered the universe. Yukito snapped his head back over to Robert in shock.

"Guys! Digivolve!"

Motimon and Tsunomon quickly digivolved into their rookie forms. It didn't help that Vademon was not giving up the attacks. Yukito's eyes narrowed at him in frustration.

"What are we going to do?" Robert asked.

"Just surrender, you can't defeat us," DemiDevimon mocked.

Yukito let out a little growl of annoyance at the little bowling ball. It was bad enough he was ready to finish off the two digimon once and for all.

In all the anger, Yukito and Robert's digivices went off again causing Tentomon and Penguinmon to digivolve once again into their champion forms.

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon!"

Vademon and DemiDevimon let out yelps of surprise seeing the larger digimon coming after them. They had no idea what to do. In an act of defence Vademon attempted to shoot at them thinking it was going to stop the large digimon. That only irritated Kabuterimon and Dolphmon more. Vademon and DemiDevimon ran for their lives as Kabuterimon flew toward them in anger. The two digimon fell to the ground just as the large bug digimon flew past them.

Turning around Kabuterimon stared down at them ready to strike with all he had. Dolphmon still floated in the air behind them ready to do a double team.

Vademon was in no mood for any more games and glared at Kabuterimon.

"What I need is some pest control," Vademon laughed blowing a kiss toward Kabuterimon. "Tata."

Asteroids began to come toward Kabuterimon as Vademon disappeared from sight. Dolphmon could only watch in shock.

Kabuterimon was hit full force with each asteroids coming toward him. At each hit he became weaker and forced to move back further. Dolphmon stared in horror trying to find a way to rescue him while Robert and Yukito floated uselessly.

"Kabuterimon!" Robert called out when Kabuterimon floated past him.

"Don't give up!" Dolphmon shouted.

Kabuterimon regained his composer and began to go full force into asteroids completely ignoring the pain. The rocks were getting bigger as time went by.

"Sorry but I've never been partial to vermin digimon," chortled Vademon.

"Oh how I long to rid of that laugh," seethed Yukito.

Kabuterimon floated in the space completely unconscious and unresponsive to the calls from Dolphmon.

Robert looked on with worry and concern. Yukito wrapped his arms around him to keep him from going after Kabuterimon.

"Kabuterimon! You have to get up and digivolve!"

As if something were listening to Robert's plea, his digivice started to glow brightly before shooting off a light into the crest and tag. From that light, it shone on Kabuterimon causing his body to change before the two humans and Dolphmon's eyes.

"Kabuterimon digivolve to…" his blue, large body began to change, the horn on his head became more of that of a beetles horn. He grew a red shell over his blue body; the pincers began to grow in size as well. From his two arms now grew four. "MegaKabuterimon!"

The asteroids before him never once phased him as he smashed his way through. His anger filled him and in return was determined to finish off Vademon. Robert and Yukito looked on in awestruck.

"Kabuterimon was successful he digivolved to ultimate MegaKabuterimon. Let's see if you can take him on Vademon," Robert analyzed.

Vademon looked on in almost boredom at MegaKabuterimon. "I have a surprise for him too," Vademon drawled blowing a kiss before disappearing into thin air.

MegaKabuterimon roared with anger as he went after him only to come face to face with what appeared to be a planet. There was no way his body was going to be able to smash through. With the force of the planet he was thrown back.

"Show him what you're made of MegaKabuterimon!" Robert shouted determinedly.

Vademon watched in triumph as he floated a few feet from the planet and MegaKabuterimon. He thought he had him completely trapped for good. What he never expected came next.

"Horn buster!" roared MegaKabuterimon. A bright light appeared before Vademon as the planet blew up into smithereens and completely destroying Vademon in the process.

Robert and Yukito looked at each other with grins on their faces, Penguinmon once again in Yukito's arms. They were triumphant at last, only problem was how do they escape? The bright light still remained making it difficult to see anything. Coming to their rescue, MegaKabuterimon picked the boys up and leaving the strange universe once and for all.

Outside on the mountain stood Mark, Kisho, Labramon, Wanyamon and Johnny looking around in shock as rumbling took place. Their mouths dropped when orb of light appeared and MegaKabuterimon shot through the ground and headed to the sky.

As the light began to fade away, Yukito and Robert lay unconscious on the ground. Penguinmon was lying next to Yukito in a daze. Weakly Motimon crawled toward Robert's side.

"Robert? Robert? Talk to me!" Motimon pleaded thinking his partner was dead.

Yukito let out a groan as he brought his hand to his head after hearing Motimon's plea for Robert to wake up. At first he truly thought Robert was dead, but as he struggled to sit up, he saw Robert groan and his eyes fluttered open.

"Robert? Are you all right?" Yukito asked gently as Motimon pulled on Robert's hand.

"Yeah, I believe so. How are you holding up little guy?" Robert asked concerned with his digimon.

Motimon released Robert's hand as a sigh of relief came through him. He wobbled a little bit before he crashed on the ground from exhaustion. "I'm so tired I can barely stand up."

"Aw, I'm sorry," Robert apologized pulling his digimon into a hug. Yukito sighed a breath of relief as he looked down at his own digimon.

"It's not you're fault Robert, you didn't know."

"Robert! Yukito!" came the voice of Mark. Looking up the boys could see Mark, Kisho, their digimon and Johnny running toward them. "You made it back!"

"You know it," replied Robert standing up holding on to Motimon with Yukito beside him, Penguinmon at their feet.

"How's it going?" Mark asked casually finally catching his breath.

"Long time no see," Johnny greeted grinning at Robert and Yukito.

"Um…exactly how did he get here?" asked Yukito quizzically.

"He came with Victoria, Ember is with her and James," Mark replied.

"Oh great. But yeah, we're both great now."

"Tell us what happened," insisted Kisho.

"Yeah, how did you two get here? We thought you two were digi-goners."

"Oh it was just a long day of searching for my inner self, you know the usual," joked Robert.

High above them a figure of Gennai came into sight. "Hello kids, it's been awhile."

"It's Gennai."

"The connection between the worlds is still damaged you'll have to stay longer," Gennai drawled.

The four kids all gasped at his message, only Johnny looked at him in question trying to figure out who the old man was.

"I've collected some information about the digital world that you would be able to use. Make sure you take a look at the digimon files, it'll tell you all you need to know," Gennai's voice began to fade away as he disappeared.

"All right…who exactly was that old guy?"

"Gennai, someone who contacted us when we were on File Island," answered Yukito.

"Right," Johnny replied rolling his eyes.

Robert got right away into typing on his laptop. Mark, Kisho, Yukito and Johnny sat on the ground behind him staring at the screen. Yukito rolled his eyes as he leaned back.

"I wonder if there's anyone we know in here?" wondered Robert aloud typing away almost bored. "I just downloaded my favourite: MegaKabuterimon," Robert said brightly as soon as everyone downloaded.

"We really need to get you away from that computer love," Yukito insisted.

"I'm just that cool."

Somewhere in a darken forest, DemiDevimon flapped in front of a large portal like orb created by bats.

"A funny thing happened on the way to Vademon's," DemiDevimon laughed nervously.

"Prepare to face the consequences," Myotismon's low voice seethed.

"I hate this part," DemiDevimon said in a high pitch voice.

"Quiet, you had your chance," Myotismon snapped.

DemiDevimon looked on in horror as Myotismon's bats picked up DemiDevimon taking him to a nearby tree.

"Don't make me sit in this tree all night boss. I'm afraid of heights," whined DemiDevimon.

**A/N: Wow…three months of no updates…what the hell? I swear I am not dead. Just a slight writers block and tad in and out of writing. Lost my muse.**

**Yumi: What the bloody hell? We've been waiting forever for you to write again. We were bore.**

**Victoria: You got that right…our readers were worried sick about you.**

**Ember: You write one chapter with me in it and you leave it alone?**

**Me: All right all right, I'm sorry it won't happen again. I promise the next chapter won't be far along. It just requires me to type it up.**

**Yukito: You better write it, I'm just glad to be out of the universe finally. Didn't think it would last for three months straight.**


	30. Princess Issues

**A/N: All right…first of all thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Princess, ProtolgirlT, Alexus-al and The Night's Oath for your reviews. So here is chapter 30 hope everyone enjoys it. Going to be the interesting chapter to deal with.**

**Chapter 30**

**Princess issues**

Victoria and James paddled their entire way toward a castle surrounded by water. Bearmon sat on the top of the swan with Renamon swimming beside. Above them flew Ember who seemed to be getting a foul expression on her face. In Victoria's and she held of to her digivice watching the pink dot get stronger and stronger. Her face truly had the look of disdain upon their arrival.

"That's Tora all right; I wonder what she's gotten herself into. I swear, she pisses me off I'm going to strangle her."

"Oh…mind if I join you on that?" Ember asked a menace smile on her face.

"You have massive amounts of issues you know that right?" James retorted to the two.

"We have been stuck in the digital world for how long and you are just cluing into them now? You know Yumi and I are one of the worst people to be around because of our choice of words as well as choices in life. Kiva will just give the cold shoulder like she's been doing from the get go. I still fathom what possessed you guys to make a big to do over her being mute!"

"It was just a shock that's all; I thought she was deaf or something. That's why Puppymon always had to speak for her," James quickly said afraid of getting hit or something.

"No, besides why do you think she constantly gave hate glares to everyone? She heard perfectly well! You're lucky she's getting better."

"How stupid can you be James to go near someone's private property?"

James didn't say another word, he couldn't even bring himself to answer Ember's question. He knew it was stupid of them to snoop. Even if it had been months ago. He knew that Victoria was getting completely annoyed and frustrated with him now and with them surrounded by water he was sure to go swimming if he kept it up. He was afraid of what Ember could do herself. He knew exactly what Victoria was capable of, especially when the other two girls ganged up.

"Victoria, we're getting close, I can see the castle!" Renamon announced treading water.

"Oh thank the gods. She seriously better not be high and mighty in there or she is a dead girl!" threatened Victoria. Ember grinned at Victoria's comment, oh how she would enjoy teaching her a lesson.

Finally getting out of the swan after docking the four made their way up to the castle door. Victoria dragged herself up the stairs refusing to deal with Tora and her gods only knew how annoying she'll be. Ember stayed by her side while James and the two digimon we off ahead of them. Ember knew exactly what Victoria was going through with dealing with Tora.

"Victoria we better hurry up once we get Tora the sooner we can get out of here," Renamon insisted grabbing her arm pulling Victoria closer still to the door. Ember disappeared from sight in no mood being dragged. Renamon knew her friend was not fully thrilled or accepting with some people.

Reaching the door finally, Victoria narrowed her eyes as she glared at the blockade before her. James looked over at Victoria sort of concerned that she was just standing there. He finally looked over at Renamon to get some answers he got the silent hint to give Victoria a few minutes of peace. Ember just hovered over head unaware of what was going on. But she could sense the tension building inside of her.

"I'm not going to rip her head off, I'm not going to rip her head off," Victoria repeated taking a deep breath obviously annoyed the mantra not helping whatsoever.

"Ready to go in?" Renamon asked gently.

"Nope. But if I must I will."

Taking both handles in hand, Victoria opened the two large doors wide revealing a large foyer, everything covered in frilly things with bright colours. Victoria let out a groan before making a strange noise resembling a gag. Ember landed beside her, her usual casual smirk on her face was placed with a disgusted face.

"Oh yeah, girl is dead!" Victoria groaned.

"I'm right behind you in that department."

"Victoria, breathe or I will force you to go into a meditative state again," Renamon warned placing a paw on her partners shoulder. Ember couldn't help but roll her eyes. She could easily leave and cause problems else where, but she rather stick by the Goth girl.

"Bite…me…" Victoria replied through clenched teeth looking up at Renamon her eyes narrowed.

Running around in front of them were two different kinds of digimon. One was blue tadpole looking creatures, while the others were green mutated frogs.

"Those are Gekomon…I've heard of them, they really love music not surprising since they were born with those horns," informed Bearmon. "The other ones are Otamamon. I wonder what's got them so wound up."

The two humans, two digimon and the rocker ghost watched them all curiously at the digimon who were shouting things back and forth to each other.

"The princess wants a pepperoni pizza, now! Come on, chop, chop!" ordered a Gekomon passing the little group.

"Excuse me," James said hoping to get his attention.

"Oh you must be the outfit designers!" an Otamamon mentioned.

Ember scoffed as she folded her arms over her chest.

"No, we're looking for Tora!" Victoria jumped in narrowing her eyes, her voice wavering between calm and anger.

"Oh the princess? She doesn't want to see anyone at the moment," replied a Gekomon.

"Really, is that so? We'll just see about that!" Victoria snapped storming toward the stairs wanting to drag Tora by the hair out of the castle and continue to find the others.

"What is all this commotion about? Didn't I tell all of you that I wanted PEACE AND QUIET?" shouted Tora from the top landing of the stairs looking livid.

Ember felt her jaw drop at the sight of Tora. She had seen the girl around Tokyo and at her concerts. Something about her never left her mind. Plus, she liked to haunt her a lot.

Victoria stared up in shock to see Tora standing there wearing a light blue sleeveless corset top and wrap over top a full white skirt. On top of her head was a heart shaped tiara.

"Oh you have to be freaking kidding me!" yelled Victoria slamming her head upon the railing.

"Oh it's you two," Tora softly replied with a smiled looking down upon James and Victoria. Renamon merely shook her head in disbelief while James and Bearmon dropped their jaws in shock.

"Well, that confirms is, Tora has completely gone insane," groaned Victoria furiously storming back to James, Ember and the digimon. She wanted nothing more than to leave the castle and Tora behind.

What are you four doing here?" Tora asked while Renamon wrapped her arms around Victoria's waist and picking her up refraining from leaving.

"We were coming to get you and take you back with us," James explained as Victoria now struggled with Renamon using all her strength, causing Ember to roll her eyes.

"Do you truly think I want to leave this place? This is the best place out here, and there's nothing you could do or say that's going to change my mind," Tora replied in a huff.

A short time later the six of them made their way into the bedroom. The walls were painted a light pink, the four poster bed had two different colours, the sheets were a light purple and a soft pink purple mixed pillow. The curtains on the bed were a soft gold. It was enough to cause Victoria to throw puke. Ember almost couldn't stand being in the room another minute.

"Tora, you have to come back with us, we need to locate Kiva, Yumi, Robert and Yukito," James mentioned.

"Well I don't want to leave. It is so comfortable here and I'm treated with respect."

"Tora you are respected with the group as well, this isn't the time to be playing around," Bearmon argued.

"I'm not playing around and I'm not leaving, they treat me like a princess."

James and Bearmon looked at her in shock. Renamon didn't show any emotion while Victoria and Ember rolled their eyes, crossing their arms in front of their chests making a scoffing noise.

"I don't see why I have to risk my life anymore, I don't have to deal with evil digimon or get my hands dirty."

Victoria snapped. "You spoiled little BRAT!" screamed Victoria facing Tora now. "You are a completely inconsiderate, two-faced bitch! How dare you! We are a team, albeit dysfunctional, but nonetheless we are a team! If you don't leave now willingly I will be forced to drag you out of here, and I don't care if you're kicking and screaming, I can take you!" Victoria was right up in Tora's face, their noses almost touching.

"How dare you talk to me in such a manner to me! I am a princess!"

"You are not a princess!"

"Tora, is everything okay?" came a soft voice belonging to Lalamon.

James and Bearmon turned to face the door excitedly, Renamon turned around letting out a sigh as she grabbed Victoria threatening to leave.

"It's Lalamon!"

Lalamon appeared in the door way with a soft white sash around her little green body.

"Hi guys," her soft voice said.

"You have to be joking," screamed Victoria turning away.

"Can you two seriously get over this and please just come with us!" James pleaded.

"If the little princess wants to stay, let her," scoffed Ember.

"I am to leaving this place. I like it here too much."

"If you want to stay then fine. Renamon, James, Bearmon, Ember let's go and leave the spoiled brat alone."

"We aren't leaving anywhere until you come with us," James snapped at Tora sitting down with Bearmon next to him.

"Oh is that so? We'll see about that!" Tora took a little bell ringing it. Within seconds a crowd of Gekomon came to the door.

"What can we do for you Princess?" asked one of the Gekomon.

"I want you to throw these four out of the castle!" commanded Tora angrily.

The Gekomon picked James and Bearmon off the ground and lifted Renamon and Victoria off their feet carrying them out of the room. Ember fought against the digimon and ended up going intangible.

"Let go of me, I swear I'm going to hurt you," threatened Victoria.

Outside the castle the Gekomon threw the four on to the ground. Victoria got to her knees her eyes narrowed dangerously at the Gekomon.

"She is a dead girl!" Victoria vowed standing up reading to leave.

"We are in desperate need of help, please stay," said a pleading voice. Looking back again only three Gekomon and two Otamamon were left behind looking grim.

"What kind of help?" questioned Victoria.

"Follow us."

"You better not be taking us to a trap," warned Victoria eyeing the inside of the castle wary.

"Don't worry we aren't."

The ten made their way toward a concert hall, ribbons and lights were set up along the sides. On the stage with speakers and a microphone. Behind that was a large orange creature with a long tail like thing on this head with a purple pom pom at the end.

"This is our lord and master Lord ShogunGekomon," introduced a Gekomon.

"Holy hell…I think someone needs to be on a weight loss program," smirked Ember.

"Agreed."

"He's been like this way for over three hundred years. You see Lord ShogunGekomon was proud of his voice and entered a singing contest. But he lost. He felt so bad he fell into a deep sleep. From which he's never recovered. It said that a voice as beautiful that beat him will wake him. For centuries we've tried but every song failed," the one Gekomon sulked.

"We Gekomon love music but unfortunately not one of us has a voice considered beautiful," the second Gekomon answered.

"Then we got a break, a strange little voice spoke of a girl with a pretty voice. He told us where to find her and we did," an Otamamon spoke up.

Victoria side glanced at Ember with an annoyed "you don't think" look. This had trouble written all over it.

~flashback~

Tora and Lalamon soon arrived at the castle ushered in by the Otamamon and Gekomon. Making her way to the stage, Tora stood in front of the microphone listening to the beat of the song.

"I want to sing a song

A song that will wake you up.

And when you hear my voice

You call me a sweet buttercup."

The Gekomon and Otamamon were in awe at the sight of their master starting to stir from his slumber as Tora continued.

"Just give me a listen

Mmm hmm hmm."

Tora hummed to the tune as she ready for the next part. As she went to sing again, no sound came out of her. "I'm sorry, I forgot the words," Tora replied in earnestly ducking her head. She felt bad for not remembering the lyrics. The Gekomon and Otamamon all groaned as ShogunGekomon fell back to his slumber.

Thinking quickly, the Gekomon and Otamamon took Tora and Lalamon to the dining room where a grand feast was waiting for them. Tora's eyes widened as her face lightened up. The glorious food was more than enough for her to get in over her head.

After the feast Tora returned to the concert hall standing in front of the microphone once again. The music started to play once more.

Tora started her singing once again, getting the Gekomon and Otamamon overly thrilled at seeing their master begin to wake up. There was only one problem. Tora got an idea in her head, and that usually ended badly in some cases.

"You know what this place needs? Some colour. We need lights and ribbon. And a disco ball would look fabulous. Don't forget the hair make up and costumes."

The Gekomon and Otamamon all groaned at her suggestion as they unwillingly went to retrieve the things for Tora's suggestion. Soon after Tora was dressed in a royal blue gown with elbow length gloves and tiara. Above her sat a disco ball shining light on everyone. A line of Gekomon stood behind her playing tambourines and maracas. As the music started up again, Tora let out a yawn.

"I'm tired, let's pick it up tomorrow."

~End flashback~

"And that's the way it's been, one excuse after another," an Otamamon replied solemnly.

"We have done all that she's wanted," a Gekomon explained. "We've even redecorated the entire palace for her."

"And if anyone complains to her."

"Whoa, you wouldn't want me to lose my voice now would you?" Tora said.

"See we're in a terrible position you see and we're completely hopeless."

"You've basically given a spoiled brat everything that she's ever wanted in life. There is no way to get her out now," scoffed Victoria a little too bitterly.

"Well since you're friends of her, perhaps you could reason with her, oh pretty please."

"I have an idea, let's wake him up ourselves!" James suggested eagerly.

"You have to be **kidding** me," groaned Victoria.

James jumped on to the staged and grabbed hold of the mic. Victoria smacked her hand against her forehead. Oh how she longed to strangle him.

James: I want to sing a song

A song that will wake you up

Listen to my voice, come on now!

James' voice was terrible, he sounded like a tone deaf person, well to say that least he was tone deaf. Renamon, Victoria, Ember, the Gekomon and Otamamon all covered their ears blocking out the sound.

"My turn next," cried out Bearmon running toward James with the same enthusiasm.

Bearmon sounded ten times worse then James sounded. Everyone covered their ears desperately trying to block out the horrible noise that came from him.

"Renamon, Victoria, Ember, you're up next," James announced pushing Renamon toward the stage forcing her up there.

Renamon refused to budge as she let out a warning growl staring down at James.

"Remove your hands from my back, or I will forcibly remove your hands myself," Renamon threatened.

"Oh come on, be a good sport."

"I don't sing."

"Victoria, come on, it's your turn!" James grinned facing Victoria now.

"Unless you have a death wish, I am not going up there."

"Oh yes you are," Renamon warned striding over to her. Victoria backed away from preparing to run away at a moments notice.

Renamon was way too quick for her, in a flash she was right behind Victoria wrapping her arms around her waist. She picked her partner up making it easier for her to get her on stage.

"No! Put me down!" Victoria struggled within Renamon's grasp. "I don't sing."

"Guess what? You don't have a choice," Renamon said placing her on the stage.

Victoria glared at the encouraging smiles of James and Bearmon, the triumphant grin of Renamon and thumbs up from Ember, the Gekomon and Otamamon.

"I hate you guys so much right now," Victoria seethed.

"Just give it your all."

Victoria: I'm going to sing a song!

I'm going to wake you up!

Hear my voice and wake you up!

ShogunGekomon! Are you ready to rock?

"And this is what happens when she listens to way too many heavy metal songs," Renamon groaned covering her ears heading Victoria's screaming voice.

"If no ones going next, I guess I will," Ember announced shrugging picking up her guitar.

"Is that such a good idea? I mean the two of you have the same taste in music."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll wake up hearing me," Ember assured with a glint in her eye.

Ember stood on the stage grinning at the crowd before her as she strummed a few cords on her guitar.

Ember: I want to sing a song

When you hear my voice, you've got to listen

Open your eyes and liven up

A woo! Tell me who you love!

There was actually a glimmer of hope of ShogunGekomon waking up until Ember added the last little bit. Everyone let out a groan as she strolled off stage still looking amused with herself.

"What's going on?" Lalamon asked floating into the room.

"Trying to wake up fatso here. So far, nothing. Why are you in here anyway?"

"I was afraid you guys left."

"Oh trust me, we were planning on it," Victoria replied bitterly. Renamon smacked her in the back of the head causing her to yelp. "The hell?"

"Be nice."

Victoria rolled her eyes as she turned away form the others. Renamon let out a sigh as she looked back at Lalamon.

"So what are we suppose to do now?" Renamon asked.

"Why doesn't Lalamon sing for us? She has a good voice," Bearmon suggested.

"I would but I don't want to go behind Tora's back."

"That's just great. So we're completely out of options then?" Victoria asked outraged.

"Not necessarily, I still have on more idea up my sleeve," James snickered.

"What would that be pray tell?"

"Lalamon, we need you to get Tora to sing."

"This is your master plan? I think they've gone for that option before and look at where it's gotten them!" Victoria snapped.

"No, I mean we trick her into singing by recording her voice."

"Genius, why didn't we think of that?" asked Ember. She still needed to understand more of what the other digidestined had to offer, especially when it came to the odd sounding ideas.

Everyone sneaked away from the throne room heading back toward the castle careful not to get spotted by Tora. The Gekomon, Otamamon and Lalamon located a karaoke machine and a recording system for the gang in one of the large rooms.

In no time, everything was set up ready to go. James wore the headset after Victoria refused multiple times repeating that she would not help a selfish brat. Ember refused on the grounds that she never liked wearing the large headsets even during recording.

"I still say this isn't going to work," hissed Victoria.

"Sure it will. You just have to have a little bit of faith," James replied.

"Do you think she's that stupid to believe something like this?"

"Shh, look."

Inside the room, Tora entered her bedchambers noticing Lalamon hovering around a karaoke machine.

"What is that?" Tora demanded.

"It's a karaoke machine."

"I know that, why is it in my room?"

"I just wanted to hear you sing. How about giving me a private concert?"

"She's not that gullible," Victoria whispered.

"Shh."

Tora took the microphone considering for a moment, she hadn't sang in a while, maybe it was a good idea to get back to the groove of things.

"All right, I'll do it."

"Oh my gods, she is that gullible and stupid," Victoria hissed under her breath.

"Will you shut up, she'll hear us," hissed James.

Lalamon started up the music as Tora got into the rhythm of the song. "That's it, feel the music, find you tempo."

As Tora got closer to singing, something caught her eye by the window. Two yellow pointed ears appeared to be showing at the window. Tora wasn't stupid, if Renamon was there, Victoria couldn't be far behind. An idea formed into her head as she narrowed her eyes. Holding the mic close to her mouth she screamed as loud as she could, which magnified outside shocking James in the process and freaking everyone else out.

"Told you she wasn't stupid…wow did I actually say that?"

"Arrest them!"

"You've got to be freaking kidding me! Hey, let go of me!"

James, Victoria, Bearmon, Renamon, Lalamon and Ember were taken down to the dungeon by the Gekomon. Tora followed behind them looking severely pissed off.

"You selfish, little BITCH! Let us out of here!" Victoria yelled grasping the bars for dear life facing Tora.

"You deserve to be in here! How dare you try and trick me like that!"

"Tora, why don't you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking of others instead!" Victoria yelled banging on the bar.

"Hmph! Why should I even listen to you? All you ever do is bitch and complain about me every second you get!" Tora replied crossing her arms in front of her chest as she turned away.

"Where do you get off saying that sort of thing? I barely even talk about you any more!"

"Doesn't matter, you will be rotting in here for the rest of your lives!"

"Tora, don't you dare!"

"Watch me," Tora replied coolly strolling away.

After Tora, the Gekomon and Otamamon left the dungeons, Victoria hit the bars letting out all her frustrations.

"Hitting the bars isn't going to do anything," Renamon stated.

"That right there just irritates the crap out of me. Locking us up for what? Trying to wake up fatso?"

"It'll probably be a good idea to let it go and see what morning has to offer," Ember mentioned sitting against the wall strumming on her guitar. She wasn't even paying much attention to Victoria or the others.

Victoria let out a sigh as she slid down the wall and sat on the floor in frustration. Ember was right, maybe all they needed to do was let things cool down and pray that this was just Tora being Tora.

"Hey, can I see that?" James asked curiously.

"If you seriously think about smashing it against the wall hoping it'll work, your dead wrong. You'll be leaving one broken guitar and a very pissed off rock ghost."

"Got it," James said backing away getting the hint from Ember. He might not respect much of anyone's property, but when threatened her backs off almost instantly.

Later on that night, Tora lay restless in her bed tossing and turning as a nightmare over took her. Mumbling could be heard coming from her, as whatever dream she was having became worse.

Tora stood in a weird place surrounded only by fog and blue and purple clouds. She wore her similar princess dress she had on mere hours ago. Before her were Etemon, Devimon, SkullBaluchimon and Okamimon all advancing upon her. She let out a terrified scream as she backed away not wanting to be anywhere near them.

"Aw Princess Tora can't handle this on her own?"

On the other side of her was Victoria, Renamon, James, Bearmon and Ember all just staring at her.

"My friends, please help me!" Tora pleaded.

"Help a selfish brat like you? Unlikely. You are on your own," Victoria scoffed as the five disappeared from view.

"No, please, come back."

"What's the matter princess Tora?"

"I order you to stop him, please!"

"Why should we help you when you won't help us?"

The Gekomon and Otamamon all disappeared into the fog leaving Tora freaking out. Lalamon soon appeared before her giving Tora a glimmer of hope.

"Oh Lalamon, I am so happy you are here. Please help me."

"Sorry Tora, but I can't help you."

"No, please. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Devimon, Etemon, Okamimon and SkullBaluchimon continued to advance upon her making her scream bloody terror causing her to wake up in a cold sweat.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," muttered Yumi. "Tora, wake up."

"Yumi, oh my god, it is so good to see you, what are you doing here?"

"Trying to keep the peace with everyone. Don't worry, I'm not here to tell you, you are a selfish, spoiled little brat. You've heard that way too many times from Victoria and myself. But trust me, you deserve to be called that. You've been acting like you're better than everyone else. We've said this for the longest time. There is no I in team. We all need to work together. But you've been going around thinking that you are better than everyone else."

"I'm sorry, truly I am."

"Don't be telling me that. I believe Victoria, James, Ember, Renamon, Bearmon and Lalamon all deserve an apology. Especially Lalamon, she has stuck by your side throughout this entire adventure."

"I've been such a horrible person haven't I?"

"You have, but with all that aside, always know even when I'm bitching I still respect you, you truly are a good person and friend. Just promise me something. Don't think you're better than everyone else."

"I won't."

"Good."

A gust of wind blew into the wind causing the bed curtains to flutter in front of Yumi who used this time to disappear outside the window.

Tora lay back for a moment deliriously trying to clear her head. At first she truly thought she lost it, thinking that Yumi was in her room. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed possible that it was a dream, why in the world would Yumi be all nice to her?

Her crest soon started to glow pink causing her to fully sit up in her bed awake. She looked outside the curtains to see if Yumi truly was there. But, nothing, only the wide window and a curtain billowing inside.

"Maybe Yumi's right. I should go and apologize. Victoria is going to kill me."

Down in the dungeons, Victoria, Renamon, James, Bearmon, Ember and Lalamon were all lying on the ground sleeping soundly.

"All right wake up!" a Gekomon ordered.

"Not wise to wake up from sleep," mumbled Victoria as the door to their cell opened.

"The princess wants you."

"I can not wait to get my hands on her," seethed Victoria.

"Calm down Tori, you need to breathe," Renamon replied although she shared in the same hatred.

They were all lead back upstairs and towards the hall that appeared to have everything taken down and restored to its original manner. Victoria, still sleepy, stared in shock at the sight of it. Tora rose up on to the stage wearing a red midriff strapless top with a butterfly in the middle. The pants were identical red jeans.

"First there is something I would like to say from the bottom of my heart and I truly wish that they will forgive me. James, Victoria, Ember, Renamon, Bearmon, Lalamon. All of you have been completely kind to me, and brutally honest. Although I don't completely deserve an apology I truly hope that you will find it in all your hearts to forgive me. If you truly do find it in your hearts to forgive me I will sing for you."

"You have got to be kidding me, after all she's put us through?" grumbled Victoria under her breath. Renamon elbowed her in the ribs to shut her up. With that it earned her a glare as Victoria rubbed her sore ribs.

"We forgive you" sing your highness"

"Hit the lights and sound the music," cheered Lalamon.

The lights dimmed as the music started to play. Tora stood up there waiting for her part to play.

Tora: I wanna sing a song

A song to bring Shogunmon around

When he hears my voice

I hope he likes the sound

He has to listen

Listen to my compassionate heart

I've learned that friends are friends even when they're apart

I've asked my friends to forgive me from the bottom of my heart

If it's my choice his eyes will open wide

And the Gekomon will be cheeringCheering with pride."

All the while Tora was singing, ShogunGekomon slowly began to stir, her voice was truly waking him up. The Gekomon and Otamamon were so ecstatic they were getting their master back. Right at the end, a rumbling could be heard behind Tora indicating the large digimon was now awake.

"Don't panic, it's a Lord and master Shogunmon finally restored to us after so many centuries."

"I was having such a nice sleep. Which one of you clowns woke me up? Or should I just squish all you ya?" ShogunGekomon threatened.

"And I thought I was bad when I woke up," Victoria said grasping on to her digivice.

ShogunGekomon brought his foot up ready to step down on all of them. Without another thought, everyone scattered.

"How nice is this? We are going to freaking die!"

"Speak for yourself," Ember said.

"Shut up!"

"Just arguing and keep running!" yelled James.

He kept stomping after them before turning on the hall and completely destroying it making holes and causing rubble to fall to the ground.

"Holy crankiness."

"Who's bright idea was this? Remind me to never to listen to him again."

"Hey you want to hear some singing?"

"Not another one," yelped Victoria. The first thought that came racing through her mind was Etemon all over again.

"The ground will shake, when you hear the sound I make. Because I'm glad to be awake." His voice was just as bad as Etemon. Victoria was desperately trying to find a way to escape. Ember, who had never had to deal with Etemon cringed at his voice.

ShogunGekomon clapped his hands together causing an eruption to form on the ground sending all the Gekomon, Otamamon, James, Bearmon, Victoria, and Renamon to go flying through the destroyed wall aiming toward the water below. Ember took to the air and flew after them. Only one to remain in the castle was Tora and Lalamon.

With ShogunGekomon's attack, parts of the building began to fall toward Tora ready to crush her. Lalamon stared in shock as her partner screamed in terror. "TORA!"

In seconds, Lalamon digivolved into Sunflowmon heading over to her partner grabbing her waist pulling her to safety.

"That was a close one huh?"

Tora let out a sigh of relief when she was set on the ground. "Thank you so much Sunflowmon, could you ever forgive me for all that I have done?"

"You know I will Tora, you are my partner."

"You are awesome for that. Now let's take care of this loser once and for all."

"Hey loser, why not show some gratitude toward the one who woke you," Tora yelled through the microphone.

"That entire racket was you?" roared ShogunGekomon.

"Uh oh," gulped Tora seeing his anger.

"Crescent moon!"

"Fox tail inferno."

Two familiar attacks came streaming through the broken wall toward the large digimon. It pushed him back making him stare out the hole at two angry looking digimon.

"Oh so you've come to play?" he growled hopping toward the hole.

"Fox tail inferno!" Kyubimon shouted again sending off more fire balls toward him.

"Crescent moon!"

"Now its show time! And I could try that. But I'll knock you flat. And now you're going to feel it!" The attacks were extinguished and Kyubimon and Grizzlymon felt the aftershock before falling into the water.

"I thought we had enough with the off singing with Etemon," yelled Victoria covering her ears.

"Now what?"

"Look out below," growled ShogunGekomon jumping from the ledge heading toward them.

Victoria narrowed her eyes as she glared up at ShogunGekomon daring him. Her digivice soon went off again indicating Kyubimon's evolution.

"Kyubimon digivolve to…Taomon!"

"Get him Taomon," yelled Victoria.

"Oh I like her."

"Talisman of light!"

Just as ShogunGekomon neared the ground, Taomon's attack sent him flying back up to the castle just as Sunflowmon and Tora headed down to the ground.

"One more time Taomon!"

"Thousand spell!"

Taomon leapt high into the air with her sleeve-covered arms outstretched. She shot out thousands of magical, red spell papers from them. The spell papers bonded ShogunGekomon to the floor he currently was lying on as he combusted in a fiery explosion. It destroyed not only him but the building as well. After the smoke died down nothing remained.

"Never again do I want to hear a deaf tone digimon," groaned Victoria holding on to Viximon.

"Hear hear."

"So are you ready to go Tora?" asked James.

"Yeah I suppose, but do you think I could pack a few of my princess things?"

"Not in a million years," scolded Victoria.

"Aw," whined Tora.

Off in a dark section of the digital world in a stone castle in one of the dungeons, DemiDevimon hung upside down by a chain over fire.

"Didn't you say you knew what would happen if you failed?"

"Well…when I said I knew, I didn't mean I knew knew you know what I mean? Now that I do know, if its not too much trouble sir could I trouble you for a glass of water?"

**A/N: All right after so many neglected months, I have finally finished chapter 30. Yes they got Tora back, and Victoria still holds a lot of her anger with her. I am hoping that chapter 31 will not take me as long to write and type up. Hope everyone enjoys this. And this will be relatively the last chapter that I follow the show to the T. I just wanted to finish it you know?**


	31. New friend and meet ups

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, ProtogirlT, White hunter and The night's oaths for your awesome reviews. Here is the new instalment and hopefully I'll be quicker on my updates. Just a heads up, I changed a few of the characters personalities. Main one is Kiva, don't worry it's not permanent, only for a little bit. Not going to ruin the rest of it. There is a lot of back and forth between characters along with an introduction of a new character.**

**Chapter 31**

**New friend and meet ups**

With Tora finally back with the small group, their main focus would be tracking Kiva and Yumi. Victoria and James were back inside the swan pedaling all the way back to land in hopes of finding the others, Viximon lying in her partners lap. Tora sat on top holding a sleeping Lalamon in her arms. Bearmon was on the side of the swan, seeing as their was no other space for him. Above them Ember flew along silently mocking Victoria's torture.

"I see a collection of dots up ahead. Mark and Kisho must have located Yukito and Robert," Tora announced staring at her digivice that was blinking rapidly.

"Well, at least all we have to do is locate Yumi and Kiva. That hopefully won't take long," replied James assured of himself.

"You never know, don't assume it's going to be a walk in the park either to get them," Victoria commented glaring at James.

With land in view, Victoria let out a sigh of relief knowing that she would be finally free of the dreaded swan boat and back with her friends. The bonding with James and Tora was enough to drive her insane. Not that it wasn't going that to her already. At least she had Renamon and Ember to keep her company.

"Tora, next time we do this, you are pedaling. I don't know what you did at that palace, but gods you are heavy!" groaned Victoria as her legs were pushed past their limits.

"Hey, I am not that heavy!" Tora argued getting offended. Her eyes widened with excitement as she caught something up ahead. "LAND! YES! I don't have to be surrounded by water constantly!" Tora exclaimed excitedly causing Lalamon to wake in a fright.

"And we no longer have to hear you bitch and complain," snapped Ember officially annoyed with Tora. The entire trip she did not once quit complaining.

"Who asked you anyway?" huffed Tora turning her head away from the ghost.

"Oh great comeback," Ember said sarcastically rolling her eyes.

As soon as the swan docked on the shore, Bearmon got out of the water shaking out the excess water. He looked like a drown rat at the end of it all. Victoria got out, completely ignoring Tora who refused to get off the swan in protest that she couldn't get down and required help. Ember landed next to Victoria and Viximon looking around at the beach and forest before her.

"So where to now?" Ember asked leaning over Victoria's shoulder as the teen stared at her blank digivice.

"We go in cold, I'm not sure where or if Tora even saw the other dots. Even if she did I know for a fact that Yumi and Kiva would be in a separate section together. I just wish I knew where they were," sighed Victoria strolling into the forest.

"Tora, I'm right here, just jump down," James pleaded holding his arms up for her to jump into them.

"No! I refuse to move."

"Seriously? There is nothing to be afraid of, you'll have a soft landing on the sand."

"Hmph," Tora scoffed crossing her arms looking away.

"Girls," mumbled James.

"Speaking of the girls, where are Victoria, Ember and Viximon?" Bearmon asked looking around.

"They're gone?" shrieked Tora tumbling off the swan and knocking into James who wasn't paying attention. "Oof!" both groaned as they landed on the ground.

"You're right, that was a soft landing," laughed Tora.

"Yeah, you're welcome, now get off," groaned James, whose face turned red at the closeness between the two of them. Tora's face was inches from his own.

"Oh, heh heh, sorry," Tora pushed herself off James.

Deep in the forest far away from the group, Kiva sat in a high branch of one of the trees, her one leg dangling off the side while her other foot rested on the branch. A tired Puppymon lying on her lap dozing while soaking up the little rays of light.

Sitting in front of her, legs dangling over the side looking casual and relaxed was a young boy with short messy, silver hair. By appearance he seemed to be about Kisho's age and height. His blood read eyes sparkled as he gazed at Kiva, a smile growing on his lips as they talked.

**Kiva: You have missed so much since you went into the coma**

"By looks alone I believe it."

Kiva gave him a look that cause the boy to laugh. It felt so good to hear the laughter once more. His name was Kota Batto, he was and always will be Kiva's one true friend of all time. Their friendship started at a very young age and although they had not seen each other in years, their connection with each other was still strong.

**Kiva: That's not what I meant and you know it**

"I know, I know. But how many times do I truly get to bug you?" Kota laughed.

Kiva let out a silent sigh, the last physical time they got to see each other was five years ago. Losing her best friend in a sense was hard enough, to have him joke about it tore her heart apart.

Before her, instead of being physical flesh and bones, he had the appearance of a hologram figure instead. Every now and again Kota would flicker out of focus as if being pulled back to where he was. He had explained that he had woken up in a strange place surrounded by weird monsters.

"Kiva, everything is all right, I promise you," Kota assured.

Kiva merely nodded, in a way, she still blamed herself for what happened to him. She still never forgave herself for what happened to him. She still never forgave herself fully.

~Flashback~

-Two weeks prior-

Kiva strolled through the desert with Puppymon right next to her. The sun beating down on her, the heat fully get to her. A strange thought occurred to her, she had left the group only mere minutes after Yumi had. How in the world did she lose her so quickly?

'_Yumi goes off wanting to find Victoria, fine. Leaving me alone with the morons? Not fine. Why in the world would she honestly leave me back?'_ Kiva ranted furiously.

'_Perhaps she has demons she wishes to face alone?' _Puppymon suggested.

'_Demons? Puppymon what are you?' _A thought dawned on her; Yumi, since the beginning of their adventure, has been on her own, without a digimon partner. The bonds everyone had grown into, the evolutions that have occurred. Although blessed with a digivice and crest, she was never blessed with a partner. That is what most of the group tended to forget.

'_You don't suppose she's trying to locate her digimon on her own do you?'_

'_She might be, there are always other reasons for someone to go off on their own then assume that one is angry at someone or something. She's always held a questioning factor with her.'_

'_So like Victoria, she might not want to be found?'_

'_Exactly.'_

Time ticked by as Kiva and Puppymon entered a large ominous forest. Kiva grew weary with the wondering, she pushed her legs so far with no rest. Puppymon sensed the growing exhaustion coming from Kiva. They needed to find a place to rest and soon.

'_Kiva how are you holding up so far?' _Puppymon asked.

'_Exhausted, and I never get exhausted like this.'_

'_We've been on our feet for so long. We'll find a spot to sleep.'_

Kiva didn't respond, her eye lids fluttering as sleep took over. Since the departure from the group, Puppymon finally noticed the faint flush on her cheeks. They had been exposed to the sun for so long it was now showing.

'_Not the best time to get heat stroke Kiva,'_ Puppymon muttered looking around for a safe and secluded area.

Now far from where the two stood was a cave, it seemed to be hidden from the rest of the area and trees could be used as good coverings. Nudging his partner's leg he urged her to move forward. Kiva, being in a tired/heat stroke state, was easily able to be lead anywhere. This was not like Kiva at all, her prior self being pushed back replaced by something that no one else sees.

Once the two entered the cave, Kiva lowered herself to the ground away from the opening. Puppymon got to work collecting materials to start a fire. At least there would be light to brighten the cave.

Hours went by, Puppymon lying sound asleep next to Kiva, who was still resting with ease. Much of her fever went down from before. The sleep was all she needed.

"I never thought I would see the day Kiva Inuzia sleeping," a male voice sounded somewhere close to Kiva.

At first Kiva didn't stir, the voice never registered with her. She refused to leave her sleep. When the voice spoke again, her eyes began to flutter, why was it that the voice seemed so familiar with her? Opening her eyes; a familiar short messy silver hair boy sat next to her, a smile on his face something she hadn't seen in years.

'_Kota?'_ Kiva mouthed.

The boy known as Kota nodded a small smile appearing on his lips. Kiva stared in wonder at the boy, it had been years since she had seen him last and not one thing had changed with him.

'_It's been so long.'_

"That is has," the boy replied.

Puppymon slowly began to stir from his sleep hearing a male voice. It didn't sound familiar to him, which brought on warning signals. Opening his eyes he stared at the small boy. He didn't seem like a threat but looks could be deceiving.

Getting up from his spot he glared at the boy growling, anger filling him. Who did this kid think he was?

Kota's eyes flickered from Kiva to an aggravated Puppymon in question. Kiva raised her eyebrows at her friend upon hearing her partner's threatening growl.

'_Puppymon, what has gotten into you?' _questioned Kiva, not understanding his desire to protect.

'_Him,' _he growled.

Kiva looked from Puppymon to Kota with a greater understanding. She forgot to introduce the two, even though Puppymon had been a sleep mere minutes ago. Puppymon not once faltered from his stance.

"Kiva, what's with him?" asked Kota, a little frightful.

**Kiva: I apologize for his reaction. He's not good with first time meetings.**

"Who exactly is he?"

Kiva let out a sigh as she turned to look at Kota again.

**Kiva: ****Kota, this is….Puppymon…my digimon. **Kiva was hesitant upon explaining to Kota her digimon partner. She didn't know what his reaction was going to be and didn't want to know.

"He wouldn't harm me, will he?"

"Not unless you cross my path," growled Puppymon.

'_Puppymon, enough, right this instance!'_ scolded Kiva.

Puppymon glared at the boy with a warning. He still hated the new presence. Slowly, with much reluctance, Puppymon stood down from his stance to a sitting one glaring at the boy.

**Kiva: Kota, how did you get here? The last time I saw you, you were in a coma. **Her eyebrows knitted together questioningly.

"I don't remember much. Nothing made sense to me while I was…am in a coma. Well my physical body actually. All I remember was waking up thinking that I was finally going to be getting out of the coma. Realizing finally that I was not in Japan anymore. I wound up here surrounded by strange looking creatures -" Kota explained.

**Kiva: Digimon**

"Hmm?"

**Kiva: The strange creatures you mentioned, their known as digimon**.

"Yes, I was later told when a man found me wandering through a forest. He took me in caring for me all these years, well until the last year or two."

**Kiva: What happened?**

"I don't remember all the details, but this really tall digimon came destroying the man's house and taking me prisoner."

"Kota, where is the digimon hiding you?" Kiva and Puppymon spoke as one. Anger in their voices as their connection grew.

"I…no…Kiva, I have….leave….can't…" Kota's form began to flicker right in front of her eyes.

"Kota, what's happening?"

In an instant, Kota disappeared leaving a very shocked Kiva and a confused Puppymon behind.

'_What the hell happened?'_

"I don't know. Kiva, keep you chin up. We will find him," Puppymon reassured her even if he didn't really want him back.

~End flashback~

Ever since their brief encounter at the cave, Kiva had spent her time desperately trying to locate her friend forgetting about Victoria and Yumi. She was determined more than ever to get him back in her life. There were so many things that filled her mind during that time.

Every now and again Kota would show up for brief moments to check up on her but usually disappeared right afterward. For the time being, she was just glad that she had her friend back with her a little bit longer than the last visits.

"I have to admit, you have definitely grown so much since the last time I saw you," Kota mentioned.

**Kiva: Of course, I don't think it's possible for me to stay in an eight year old body for long.**

Kota blushed at the comment. He didn't know all the details of how he came to the digital world or why. Or how he even sustained an eight year old body. All he knew was that in his coma state body he was aging like normal.

**Kiva: Kota, please you have yet to tell me. Where are you being held prisoner?** There was desperation in her eyes as she signed to him.

"You know I would tell you. But right now, if I truly told you my location, I will be risking both of our lives. I couldn't stand seeing you get hurt," Kota replied hurt in his voice.

Back through the forest, Victoria sprinted past trees, rocks, and weird looking plants. A few of them were starting to look oddly familiar to her and she didn't understand why. Above her, Ember was getting exhausted with running in circles.

"Victoria, don't you think we would have found them by now?" Ember asked desperately trying to keep up with Victoria.

"That's what I thought to. But this forest is huge."

"It doesn't help when you are running in circles," Viximon replied from Victoria's bag.

"Ugh…tell me I wasn't," Victoria groaned now trying to catch her breath.

"Afraid you were," replied Ember landing next to Victoria.

"All right, new plan, the digivices are now in use. I have a feeling that Kiva can't be too far from here."

Once more, Ember and Victoria were on the move, this time strolling briskly through the forest, in no mood to get lost or go into another circle. Their frustration was building immensely with each step. Victoria's digivices remained blank, which made them all think that there might be a possible chance they were going the wrong way. Victoria groaned at the though of being lost in the forest. How she was truly going to tell the others or find away to double back was beyond her.

"Now what?" Ember asked after several minutes.

"I doubt she is even here," Victoria sighed.

"No, she is. I can smell Puppymon."

The two girls stared at each other with raised eyebrows. "You can…SMELL Puppymon?"

"Yeah, animal instincts. You should know," Viximon replied rolling her eyes.

"All right, leads us to them," Victoria replied.

Viximon hopped out of the bag and began to take off through the forest. There was a path up ahead that turned to the right, the same path Victoria continuously missed, Viximon, who kept growling within the bag prior, took charge and headed down the path. Ember gave a side glance at Victoria in annoyance as both strolled down the new path.

"Why in the ghost zone did we keep missing this spot?" Ember asked.

"I guess I wasn't truly paying attention and something wanted to keep me away," admitted Victoria.

"Oi, I am going to smack you if we find her.

With that being said, the girls sped up down the twisting path. Viximon seemed to get farther ahead of them. Eagerness filling her at locating Puppymon and Kiva.

"You would think you two would actually **want** to see your friend again and pick it up," Viximon called up a head. She was stopped by a large tree waiting.

"It's not my fault I've been doing a lot of running. You were relaxing in my bad the entire time," shot back Victoria breathlessly reaching her digimon finally.

"I thought you were a quick healer?" Viximon asked.

"I'm not **that** quick. Besides, I thought you were eager to find Puppymon?" question Victoria. "Why'd you stop?"

"Look up," Viximon instructed.

Victoria and Ember raised their eyebrows at the small fox before looking at each other still utterly confused. Finally giving in, the two raised their heads toward the branches where Kiva still sat with her leg dangling over the side while her other foot rested on the branch. Puppymon was still lying on his partners lap still sleeping. Puppymon opened his eyes at the scent of Viximon and Victoria.

"Kiva, look who finally decided to show up," Puppymon said lifting his head to face his partner.

Kiva gazed over the side to see Victoria grinning up at her. A small grin appeared on her lips as well before facing her friend.

**Kiva:** **I want to introduce you to some people**

Kota stared down at the ground as well seeing the new arrivals. He wasn't sure how to take it. For the time that he's known Kiva, she had no other friends. Perhaps over five years things had changed? He's son find out.

Puppymon hopped off Kiva's lap and on to the descending tree branches. Eagerness in his eyes to be back with Viximon and the others. Kiva soon followed after him seeing as Kota vanished from his spot on the tree branch.

"So good of you two to actually show up," Puppymon said staring up at Victoria.

"Thought we'll never see you again," Puppymon and Kiva admitted, a small grin on her face.

"It has been an interesting thing let me tell you. Oh, I'm sure you remember, she…"

"Kiva, who's this?" Kota asked reappearing next to Kiva's side.

"Oh that's right. Kota this is my friend Victoria, Victoria, my long-time friend Kota."

Red eyes stared into black ones in a ultimate stare down. Kota has the look of hatred to the girl already. Victoria was questionable whether or not to trust him herself.

"Things seem to be going well," Viximon said sarcastically feeling the tension between the two humans.

"I know what you mean."

"I think it'll be a wise idea to track down the others. We hasn't been able to locate Yumi just yet," Victoria suggested.

"She hasn't been on our screen either. I'm not sure if she's trying to ignore us or not," Kiva shrugged brushing her hand to her device.

Tora, James and their digimon wandered through the forest roughly in the same direction as Victoria went. Tora's frustration had mounted with the disappearance of Victoria and absolutely no sign of return. Lalamon seemed to notice the tension build inside her partner.

"Tora, you need to breathe, there is no sense in getting frustrated," Lalamon soothed.

"Those three only think of themselves and what's good for them. Not once have they considered what's best for the group," seethed Tora. Her anger that seemed to usually be kept in check now flooded out as she ranted.

"Tora, right now, we need to keep with our original plan and stay focus. Getting upset now will take us away from our goal," James insisted.

Tora glowered at him, how dare he talk to her like that? This whole nonsense was getting pathetic. She already knew that if the triplets wanted to be left alone then so be it. She wasn't going to stop them. No one seemed to understand the annoyance and the frustration that was going on with her at the moment. Not even Lalamon could calm her, which suited her just fine.

"Hey, I've got a signal, the others are close by," James noted as his digivice started to go off.

"Finally, we can be a full team again," Tora replied half heartedly.

"Come on, they're this way," James announced grabbing hold of Tora's arm and pulled her down a path where a large collection of dots seemed to gather together.

Checking his digivice, Robert saw a pink and green dot making their way toward them from one side, while further down another path a black and blue dot seemed to be standing talking with an unknown dot.

"Well, it seems we're in the right place. Tora and James are on their way towards us and Victoria and Kiva seemed to have found each other. It would be nice to know where Yumi was."

"There still isn't any sign of her?" asked Yukito.

"None. It's like she was taken off the map."

"So, I suppose we keep checking?" asked Kisho.

"Yeah buddy. Hopefully it won't take long," Mark assured the younger boy.

"How far do you suppose Tora and James are?" asked Yukito.

"Not that far according to the digivice, Tora's dot seems to be moving at top speed along with Lalamon right behind her," commented Robert.

"What about James?"

"Somewhere ahead of her," Robert replied double checking his digivice seeing as the two dots stopped and moved. "What the hell is going on?"

Tora was getting exasperated by all the running. She ended up just running behind James fighting the urge to smack him out of pure annoyance. James on the other hand kept checking his digivice every now and again to make sure they were going the right way.

"How much further can they be?" asked Tora stopping again to catch her breath. Lalamon resting next to her trying to settle her racing heart from being pulled in every possible direction.

"They're right a head of us Tora, they shouldn't be that far."

"You said that like ten minutes ago," she whined.

"That just means we need to keep moving so we can get there sooner," James insisted. Bearmon sat by Tora and Lalamon trying desperately to catch up on his breathing.

"Give us give minutes James."

James let out a sigh as he looked down at Tora and the digimon, almost expecting them to move. He couldn't believe this, they were so close at locating the others and all they wanted to do was sit. James let out an aggravated sigh as he leaned against a tree with his arms crossed. There was almost no sense in arguing with them.

As the group waited, a loud, rapid beeping could be heard from their digivices indicating that the other group was near them. That or evil digimon were on their way. James raised an eyebrow at the sound and looked at his digivice. Four coloured dots were on their way toward the group. It was a relief that once again their group would be reunited again even if Victoria, Kiva and Yumi were still MIA.

Kiva strolled next to Kota their hands moving at ridiculous speed. Puppymon kept just a head of her with Viximon and Victoria who seemed to be in their own little worlds. Victoria of course was still trying to figure out who Kota was. It was her trust in new people that got to her, especially when it was someone that actually knew Kiva and was a mystery to her.

For as long as Victoria had been friends with Kiva, she thought the two of them held no secrets, both knew of their pasts but now, it seemed there was more to it then meets the eye. Victoria was not a jealous person whatsoever, especially when it came to meeting people for the first time like Kota. It was hard to explain why she felt like this in the first place. She shouldn't be, she respected her friends too much for that.

As they kept on strolling through the forest both digivices began to go off rapidly indicating the others were nearby.

"There still isn't any sign of the purple dot," sighed Victoria.

"At least we'll be together again," Viximon replied trying her hardest to look on the bright side of things.

Victoria looked back at Kiva who shared a similar look of dislike. It seemed pretty clear to the digimon that the girls were in no mood to deal with the rest of the group. As for Kota, he couldn't understand the rising tension.

"So…um…what is the problem with going back to this group?" he asked uneasily.

"Victoria and Kiva don't get along very well with the rest of the group. There is one guy that does get along with them, surprisingly. Yumi is still MIA," responded Viximon.

"What's the group like?" he asked trying to better understand the group.

"Where do I seriously begin? Preppy, stubborn, overprotective, brainiacs, sports fanatics," summarized Viximon remembering how Victoria referred to them as.

"Seems like you've got yourself into an interesting group to say the least," Kota mentioned to Kiva.

**Kiva: You have no idea. To deal with them has been hell.**

Victoria tilted her head back between the teen and eight year old. Something in her black eyes said a lot about her feelings with him being around.

"Tori, is there something preoccupying your mind right now?" Viximon asked nudging her partners leg.

"Huh? What?" Victoria shook her head. She didn't seem to be completely spaced, but if she were, for how long? Kiva and Kota were now standing at her side. There was something in those dark eyes of hers that told her they had company.

"What are you looking at Tori?" Puppymon and Kiva asked.

"Company," was all Victoria would say.

"Good or bad?"

"Annoying."

Victoria was relieved that they dropped the whole ordeal surrounding her displeasure with Kota. There was no doubt about it that Kota wasn't feeling the same feeling as Victoria.

"So I get to meet the annoying friends of yours?" Kota asked Kiva.

Kiva merely nodded, no longer being able to mask her hatred with being with the others. Although right now things seemed to be all right, minus the tension building up between Victoria and Kota.

Robert sighed with relief when he saw the pink and green dot making their way toward the group in the clearing. How long did it seriously take to have the entire group together again?

"One step away," Robert informed.

"Who is it?" Mark asked.

"Well unless Kiva and Victoria admitted defeat, its James and Tora. Both their dots seemed to be immobile," Robert replied.

"They were on the move a while back, what could have made them stop?" Mark asked.

"Probably Tora," Yukito shrugged.

"That is true. I hope she isn't going to be like that when we meet up," Johnny responded folding his arms.

"Come on, we can meet them half way."

Kisho, who was sitting on the ground relaxing with Labramon, fell back on the ground refusing to get up. Mark stood over his little brother with his hands on his hips.

"Come on kiddo, time to keep moving, we can sit and relax after we find everyone."

"But that could take forever."

"Then it takes that long then."

After some grumbling and sighing, Kisho got to his feet and followed the older boys through the forest toward the location of James and Tora. This seriously better be worth their search.

James continued to pace in the same area wanting nothing better then to go meet up with the guys. He was getting frustrated with Tora and her whining. How did he ever get stuck with her? Perhaps Victoria and Ember had the right idea to leave while they still could.

Bearmon raised his head at James concerned with what was on his partner's mind. He had never seen him get like this before, but perhaps that was what happens when he was around certain people.

"James, you all right?"

"Just want to find our friends, I hate this separation act we're all enduring."

Tora could hear the annoyance in James' voice as she hugged Lalamon, her head buried in her body. The heat was getting to them already and was kicking herself for how she was acting around James. Perhaps it was wise for them to keep looking. She might have been whiny and demanding but it was usually when she had to endure the heat for so long.

"Tora, you ready to move?"

"Uh…yeah."

As Tora got to her feet, Bearmon and Lalamon both turned their attention to the left and stared intently at something moving through the forest.

"What's wrong with you two?" asked James seeing the digimon frozen to the spot.

"Someone's coming."

Tora's eyes widened, it was out of fear and anxiety to know who was coming. Could they be facing an evil digimon? Were they even ready for an attack? Tora's heart began to race with anticipation.

"Tora, James, it's so good to see you!" Kisho yelled jumping out of the bushes. Tora jumped back with a scream not expecting the small child to be there.

"That was a nice welcome," Mark commented.

James shook his head. "Nice to see you guys too."

"Where are Victoria, Ember and Kiva?" Johnny asked.

"Ember and Victoria took off and Kiva is still MIA."

"Why is Ember here?" Yukito asked.

"It's like asking why I'm here," Johnny replied a little taken aback.

"Well at least we're altogether. Just kind of wish that the girls were here too," Yukito responded a slight blush coming over his cheeks.

Ember floated above Victoria, Kiva, Kota, Puppymon and Viximon. Boredom finally struck the guitar playing ghost and she didn't even know what exactly to do any more. Victoria appeared to be wanting to be far away from Kota; Kiva was still holding a conversation with Kota and the digimon seemed to be lost with what to say to their partners.

"Okay, I'm getting sick of this silence. Enough of this already," Ember sighed exasperatedly finally getting fed up with the tension.

"Ember?"

"You two have pulled away from each other and there is a tension steadily growing. I might enjoy seeing this with people and causing it. But when its friends, I can't stand it."

Victoria stared up at the ghost before looking at Kiva, she tried her hardest to keep the glare out of her eyes.

"All right, all right, fair enough."

Further and further the group continued through the forest, silence once again back between the friends and the digimon at a loss with what to do.

'_Wonder how this is going to work out when we get back to the group. IF we ever get back to the group,'_ Ember sighed.

She might not have been a people person herself, but she did respect some like Victoria, Kiva and Yumi, seeing as all four understood where each one was coming from. Didn't help either that Ember wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what was going on.

Viximon seemed to be picking it up as well, although she had been sensing all the while. Even with the hours going by steadily it never dissipated. There were times where she would eye Puppymon to understand exactly what was going on with the humans. Not even Puppymon could come up with an answer, his connection with Kiva wasn't strong as it had been as she continued her quick pace sign language with Kota.

"I think sanity has finally left the forest," groaned Victoria stopping dead in her tracks.

"Why do you say that?" Ember asked standing next to her.

Up ahead of the small outcast group stood Robert, Kisho, Yukito, Mark, James and Tora. A groan escaped Victoria's lips as she battled inwardly to run away, Kiva hung her head as she did a face palm. Ember didn't know what to expect along side Kota.

"There goes that freedom," sighed Puppymon.

Slowly but surely the small group of misfits made its way over to the others not the slightest bit pleased. It was the walk of shame that was wished to be avoided.

"Victoria and Kiva have returned!" Kisho announced happily.

"Puppymon, Viximon, good to see you two again," Labramon barked.

"Has there been any sign of Yumi?" Victoria asked getting straight to the point.

"Not even close…uh…whose your friend?" Mark asked pointing to Kota.

Kiva gave a side ways glance letting out a sigh motioning to the others as to say: This is the group from hell.

**A/N: Here is the long time awaited chapter. I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry I couldn't get it up last year. There had been so much going on. Seriously, a full year between waits? Its pathetic. I hope you guys can forgive me. I started school last May, didn't pass my first time through Pre-massage. Went again in November, now I am officially a student learning Massage Therapy. If I am not swamped with work and school I will post more. Well, everyone is back together minus the leader but I hope you enjoy this. I promise I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. May or may not be a short one.**


	32. Kota

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the wolves, Whitehunter, ProtolgirlT, Alexus-al and The Night's Oath for your awesome reviews. While this didn't get on when I wanted to it is out now. What to look forward to; there is more exploration of how Kota got there and some more mention on Wizardmon. Oh and for the coma thing, when he wakes in the real world he is reverted back to his original age. Aka the same as Kiva.**

**Chapter 32**

**Kota**

The chaos twins, Kota, Ember and the digimon faced the newly formed group. Being back together again felt weird to the outcasts. It had been so peaceful and quiet the past several weeks. Victoria tried her hardest to hide any and all her feeling over being back.

"So, whose your friend?" Mark asked pointing to Kota. Kota now stood protectively in front of Kiva; their height difference was an amusing sight to behold. Mark and James gazed over at each other trying to hide a grin.

Kota caught the grin narrowing his eyes at them, hatred coursing through his veins. He usually wasn't so quick to hate but when he got teased by any means necessary, he automatically hated people.

Kiva could sense the heated tension rising up in Kota. She could relate so well to how he felt. For the time being however, there was no sense to start anything.

**Kiva: Ignore them, I have the same problems with them as well.**

**Kota: Must they be such imbeciles? **

**Kiva: That's how they are. Sadly.**

"This is Kota, a friend of mine," Kiva introduced.

Kota crossed his arms looking at the others. His height was the same as Kisho's. It at least gave the smaller boy someone to be with. James and Mark couldn't help the smirks that grew on their faces seeing him. In their minds they simply assumed that Kiva now started to hang out with children younger than her.

"You got something to say wise ass?" Kota shot glaring at Mark.

"Just trying to figure out why Kiva would befriend someone so young," Mark shrugged with a snort.

"You know, there is a better way to find out information, rather than chortle over ones height and simply assume that one is a young child," Kota replied coolly.

That caught them off guard big time, the way he spoke would be of someone of an older age. Especially for those who weren't afraid to speak his mind.

"Kota meet Mark, the one who seems to want to get on everyone's nerves and make fun of or say the most ridiculous comments on the planet. The other is James, just as annoying, enough said. Then you have Yukito, his boyfriend Robert, Tora….no comment, and the youngest is Kisho," introduced Kiva.

"How dare you even that about me?" Mark snapped angrily.

"You hate to hear the truth don't you?" Kiva scoffed.

Kota raised his eyebrows looking away knowing where this could go. Kiva seemed to have gotten a mouth on her since he last seen her. Most of the others have the arguing teens their space. Kota merely looked over the group before him. To a few of them he didn't even give a second glance. The digimon all looked at him with curiosity, his smell was different to those already there. Robert seemed just as curious, especially when spotting the flickering.

"Well, I'm just as interested in getting to know Kiva's friend, what about you?" Robert asked breaking the silence after several minutes. Kiva and Mark now in a wrestling pose on the ground. He had hoped that his announcement would have broken them up.

"Hmm, right," Kota merely spoke, red eyes flashing.

As the sun began to sink in the horizon hours later, the dysfunctional group now sat in front of a roaring fire, their digimon either sitting beside, in front or on the laps of their and Kiva both fashioning a black eye, Kiva merely shrugged it off, especially when Puppymon wanted to look at it.

"Well, not that you two hopefully got that out of your systems. Let's get down to what truly is important. Kota and who he is and how exactly he got here," Robert said.

Kota stayed quiet the entire time, he wasn't too thrilled to be apart of the group and have to socialize with them. He only truly wanted to be close to Kiva. He was comfortable around her as he should be. The two grew up together since they were toddlers.

"Yes, I too would like to hear the story of who you are as well," James insisted.

**Kiva: Kota, sad to say, I doubt there is any way out of this one without taking your life. Once one of them gets determined to find out about ones life, they all do. Save for Victoria.**

**Kota: So, there is no backing out?**

Kiva shook her head as Kota let out a sigh of annoyance. Victoria gazed over at them waiting to see what would happen; she still possessed an inner hatred toward him. Ember and Johnny shrugged at each other knowing better than to interfere.

"All right, all right, I'll tell you. Why must this feel like an interrogation or something?" Kota groaned. "Where should I even start?"

Nearly everyone in the group, excluding Victoria, Viximon and the ghosts started overlapping each other as soon as the invitation to ask Kota anything opened.

"Whoa, whoa, seriously one at a time. Too many voices at once give me a headache!" Kota explained raising his arms.

Everyone went silent almost instantly as soon as Kota stopped them. There was so much mystery surrounded him it was too much to wait for. Silence filled the group as Kota patiently waited for things to settle down to tell his story.

"Before I even go to say anything, I want to make one thing clear. No interruptions. Any questions wait till the end. My name is Kota Chiksta, while it seems I appear to be eight years old body wise, I assure you I am much older than that. I am thirteen years old, the same exact age as Kiva. The reason why I seem this way is because of being in a coma. There are other factors to it, but as of right now, I don't feel like sharing and there is no need for anyone to know. I have been friends with Kiva since we were babies; our parents have known each other for years, all differences aside."

Kota was definitely keeping something out of the explanation; it seemed for good reason too apparently. This was something that only Kiva and Kota knew and wished to keep secret until the time was right.

Victoria had her suspicions about what the boy was hiding. She knew better than to push for any information, it was not part of her nature. Besides, it was better to see if the others would get the subliminal messages he dropped.

"Kiva and I had been close friends before we were able to walk. Her father was friends with my parents. There was a real connection between them that seemed to have been passed down to us. We could never be separated; we kind of were attached to the hip. Sadly, I hadn't seen her since the day we got attacked."

"You were attacked? What happened?" asked Tora curious.

"When we were eight we were in the park just to take time for ourselves. What either of us didn't expect was a group of older kids waiting for us. They decided to jump us, reason, we weren't exactly liked, and this group of older kids HATED us, mainly because we were different. I took the initiative to protect Kiva to the best of my ability from most of the attack. She got most of the blunt already; the group broke her left leg and right wrist using a metal bat. When I went to go protect her I had gotten smacked across the back of the head. Most people who get hit that hard, die. I was fortunate or as fortunate as you want to see it being stuck in a coma for give long years."

**Kiva: You shouldn't have done that**

"Kiva, if I hadn't stepped in at that point, you would be in the exact same position that I am in right now. Or worse!"

**Kiva: I could have taken them on.**

Kota couldn't hold himself back and slapped her, regardless of it not hurting. It went right through her, everyone around them watched in shock. Kiva stared at him startled; she knew Kota would never raise a hand to her. She had no words to describe what happened. Hurt and pain could be seen in his eyes as he stared back. Kiva had no clue what he had gone through to protect her and all she wanted to do was brush it off.

"I chose to fight back, and I chose to protect you! I would rather know YOU were safe," Kota sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I chose to protect you because I wanted to," his voice softened as he added. "Don't make me regret my decision."

**Kiva: It put you at high risk. Each and every single day, I wished it never occurred.**

"I understand. You are not the only one."

With the mood growing more and more James couldn't help but jump in killing the mood when he saw Kota's face grow in a blush. "You like her don't you?"

Kota whirled around blushing harder. "I do not!" He could barely look at anyone for some time. Kiva merely glared at the other boy.

"While this is all very amusing, it still leaves out one question. How did you get here?" Mark asked cutting into the little moment.

"I can't exactly recall the entire thing. It has been a few years since I was put into my coma. Somehow I was transported here by a powerful voice. I don't recall my physical body leaving with me, only my mental state. As soon as I got here I immediately started to wander trying to find some sort of answers. After a week of being here an old man found me by a cluster of trees. He took pity on me and took me in. He said his name was Genni or something like that…."

"You mean Gennai?"

"Yeah, that was it. I stayed with him for over a year of so before these evil looking digimon came to his house and attacked us. Before I knew what was going on, I was taken away by this giant muscle freak with flames for hair and chains criss crossing his chest. He reminded me of Jason from Friday the thirteen."

"Hockey mask machete wielding freak? Nice way to describe it," Victoria mused at his knowledge of horror movies."

"Seemed like a good way to describe him, just minus the machete. Anyway, ever since that day, I have been locked away in his castle."

"Who Kota? Who is it?"

"I hear that other digimon say his name is Lord Myotismon."

As if on cue, Robert picked up his laptop opening it up. Kota physically flinched when he looked at the computer.

"Let's see if there is anything on this Myotismon," Robert said typing a way.

Kiva could see out of the corner of eye as Kota began to flicker. He has been doing that a lot when he came to visit her. Now it was going it again.

**Kiva: Kota, what's happening?**

"Elec…in…fe…nce…ca…long…"

The group now all looked over at Kota who was beginning to fade. Robert stared at him in both shock and amazement. He wanted to figure out how something like this was occurring.

"What is causing this?"

"Com…have…go…"

With that Kota was gone from the group once again. Kiva just stared wide eyed while the others were all shocked and astonished.

"There has to be a reason why he started to flicker."

"By what I could catch, I think something about the interference of electrical devices, but I think mainly your laptop Robert," Tentomon answered.

"How did you catch that all?"

"Also by the way he was eyeing the computer."

"Kiva, you never told us about him," Victoria finally spoke.

"You never asked, for those who don't ask, don't get answers.

Kota looked around at his familiar surrounding, a sad sigh leaving his mouth. He had been able to stay a lot longer than he normally had any other time. No other digimon was around his cell except a certain, familiar silhouette that seemed to always guard him, especially when he sent out a hologram.

"Wizardmon?" Kota whispered, afraid if anyone else was nearby.

The silhouette moved from its current location to face him a smile on his face, but never reaching his eyes. Kota noticed this a lot, especially since Wizardmon had gotten close to seeing his partner but never could say. Kota had so much sympathy for him; he understood how it felt not being able to stay with a friend. His eyes widened at seeing fresh scars over the digimon's face and torso.

"Wizardmon, tell me you didn't try to escape again."

"No, no, just a mere argument. Were you able to get a hold of Kiva?" Wizardmon asked changing the subject quickly.

"Yeah, I was able to stay longer this time. Not this mere few minutes."

"Those you can blame Phantomon for," Wizardmon growled at the mention of the phantom digimon. "How is Kiva fairing?"

"She is well; she is back with the group once again."

"What about Yumi?"

"The one you told me about? I didn't see her. I remember something that Victoria girl said that they hadn't tracked Yumi down yet."

"I need to be out there. I want to guide her back to the group."

"It is safer here for now, my friend. I heard the bowling ball with wings say he was going to take care of her himself."

"That devious bat, when I get my hands…"

"Wizard! I rather not see you hurt any more than you are now. Please, just keep a down low of things," Kota insisted placing his hand on Wizardmon's clenched fist.

Wizardmon nodded his head at the child's words. There were certain things that Kota had found out when the other digimon were talking around his cell when he feigned sleep. These things were kept away from Wizardmon's ears for good reason. Myotismon and the others still had no clue about Wizardmon's connection toward Yumi and he wanted to keep it that way. DemiDevimon, however, was slowly putting two and two together. Well that was for an idiot digimon anyway.

"Kota, I can give you some extra time if you wish to attempt to get back to the group. Phantomon is dealing with a mission Myotismon gave him and Demi is nowhere near here. So you are safe to go."

"What of Kudamon?"

"She won't say anything; just let me worry about her."

"Thank you Wizardmon."

The wizard digimon nodded his head turning his back on Kota to start his watch duty again. Kota was so lucky to have him as a friend. He was the only digimon to protect him if anything was to happen.

The group sat around the fire, sticks holding fish sat in front of them in admits of cooking. Robert was stuck on his laptop typing away trying to find answers on Kota and the hologram situation. Victoria sat close to the forest in the darkness meditating with Viximon on her lap as she tried to calm herself down and not resort to fighting with her friend. She was still livid that Kiva would keep secrets from her.

"Are you two ever going to talk to each other again?" Viximon asked.

"In time, I just want to be in a mood where I'm not biting her head off."

"Did you know I could never see that happening," Ember commented sitting next to her.

"What are you talking about?"

"You two can't stay mad for long; you are too good of friends."

"She's right you know."

Victoria cracked an eye open and looked over at Ember. "Stop that."

"Are we going to have to deal with this every time?" Bearmon asked.

"I hope not, I can't stand the little freak out. I thought they were the mature type," Tora scoffed.

"You really can't blame them, so much has been going on," Lalamon piped up.

"If you say so," James insisted.

"Can we please not talk about this? Kiva doesn't need to hear it and neither does Victoria. They don't need the constant reminders," Yukito sneered, he was currently lying on the ground with Penguinmon on his abdomen.

"Why does this matter to you?" Mark and Gaomon asked.

"A) I don't wish to hear it myself, b) they are my friends I don't like the gossip surrounding it all, c) it is none of your business."

"Oh, I think we hit a nerve," scoffed James.

"I am being dead serious, fuck off, or I will permanently shut you up," Yukito threatened sitting up.

"Oh, he's being serious, whatever shall we do?" laughed Mark and James.

"Ice prism!" Penguinmon called hitting the small group.

"Yukito, that wasn't very nice," Kisho said holding on to Labramon.

"They deserved it, I'm sick of hearing it every two seconds," he replied lying back down.

"It's the big boy playground, Kisho," Labramon responded nuzzling under Kisho's chin.

"Wow, I leave for ten minutes and hell erupts," Kota spoke standing before them with a raised eyebrow.

**Kiva: KOTA!**

"Sorry about that, holograms don't like electrical fields so much."

"I apologize, I should have known," Robert apologized.

**Kiva: Is everything all right?**

**Kota: Fine, I have a guardian angel watching over me.**

Silence fell over the group as if nothing was going on. Kota took his spot next to Kiva keeping a protective barrier up. Yukito merely shifted a bit so he was laying his head on Robert's lap. The rest of the group still stayed in their frozen states while Victoria took a seat next to Kisho and Robert giving Kiva and Kota their space.

"So, what's the plan now?" asked Kisho.

"Continue our search for Yumi. It is getting far too dangerous out there and no longer safe on her own," explained Robert.

"You know she won't come back, you can't force her to," Victoria responded her arms crossed over her chest. Viximon was nestled on her lap sleeping.

"She'll listen to you thought," Robert offered.

"Oh yea, she'll listen to me all right. It's not like we don't discuss this away from everyone; Yumi would rather be anywhere but here."

"You can't truly…"

"Robert, she only has me, Kiva and Yukito as friends. Not saying she doesn't get along with you. It's just…" Victoria gestured with her hands toward him.

"She is a part of this group Tori, we need her back," Robert argued back.

"First off, don't call me Tori, only my friends are allowed to refer to me as that. Second, is it truly the group that needs her back?"

"She is the leader!"

"Some leader running off," scoffed Kota.

"It wasn't like we had a choice, we need to search for Victoria, we just didn't know that it would be her to find us," explained Yukito.

"Hmph!"

Silence over took the group again, anger had fuelled up in everyone. More so in Victoria due to everyone saying how horrible Yumi was and thinking they knew what was best.

"Victoria, what do you think we should do?" Kisho piped up gazing up at her.

"Not sure kiddo, I want to give her another day before we go search. Give her that chance to have a breather," Victoria answered her voice softening to the young boy. She could see so many similarities between him and Dani it wasn't funny. Even Johnny and Ember could see it too. No, it wasn't that he dressed like them or even acted like them it was the personality.

"So…um…just out of curiosity, not complaining because the silence is beautiful. How long do you suppose those three are going to be frozen for?" Johnny asked curiously looking at the still frozen group.

"Give it another hour, I got them in there good," snickered Penguinmon.

Yukito and Victoria couldn't help but grin at that, karma came biting back hard and just proved that it wasn't worth fighting them.

"I think the best thing to do right now is get some shut eye," Kiva and Puppymon suggested. "No sense in stressing over everything if we don't have to."

"Who is going to stay watch?"

"I will, I'm okay on sleep," Kota explained.

"I'll stay up with you," Kiva piped up.

"You need your sleep too."

"I am not leaving you alone."

Kota sighed, "Why do I never win these arguments?"

"Because I never give you an option of winning."

The others nodded their heads to Kota taking him up on his offer as each one nestled down on the ground heading into sleep. Digimon and human curled up together with Kisho inching his way over to Victoria. Viximon let out a little laugh at him trying to be quiet about it all.

"Kisho, just come over here, I won't bite," Victoria mumbled lifting her arm as an invite to Kisho. Kisho quickly moved closer to her and snuggled against her. He saw Victoria as another older sister to him.

Once everyone was settled down for sleep. Kiva and Kota sat by the fire going back into a quick pace hand signalling, Kiva was desperate to find his spiritual form and get it out of Myotismon's clutches.

**A/N: Well, things seem to be going "well." We got to see more of Kota's past. And there is a little more of Wizardmon and his connection. You can definitely see the changes in personalities with a few, especially Victoria, she is still trying to open up to people. **


	33. Trials and choices

**A/N: Thank you to my readers and subscribers. Right now, you'll see an almost quick up loads of chapters due to me taking a small break from school (more like a year). Don't worry I'm not quitting. Anyway, this chapter is going to be full of surprises and focusing on Wizardmon (just saying). Might end up being short.**

******Chapter 33**

Trials and Choices

The fire continued to roar as night pressed on. Kiva had fallen asleep a few hours after everyone else leaving only Kota and Puppymon to stay awake. No words were spoken between them; Puppymon still viewed him as someone not to trust.

James, Mark and Tora along with their digimon finally defrosted themselves thanks to the fire hours prior. When the six looked around James and Mark were about to have an argument with Kiva over what happened, seeing as she was the only one still awake but though against it wanting to sleep.

It was so peaceful that evening, the stars shone brightly in the midnight sky. The feeling of serenity filled him as well as a sense of hope that he would be with Kiva once again and no longer in the clutches of Myotismon.

High above him, a tree branch rustled as Johnny settled down to relax and perhaps catch a fee zzz's. Ember was nearby lightly strumming on her guitar, eyes out of focus, and her mind deep in thought. While Kota had a grace of silence he felt honoured that he was surrounded by Puppymon and the ghosts. These things he would never admit to anyone.

Sadly, the feeling of belonging and freedom were put on hold when he began to feel a tug from his spirit self. Trouble was on its way and Wizardmon was desperately pleading with him to return. His hand was the first thing to fizzle out.

"No, not now," Kota whispered. Lifting his head, Kota gazed up at the ghosts a thought coming to him. "Ember, Johnny. Hey!"

Johnny cracked an eye open and gazed down at the small boy. "What's all the noise about?"

"I need to leave, I'm being summoned back. Please, can you just watch the group? I didn't want to upset, but I have no choice. Please, can you tell her I will try my hardest to be back whenever I can? I can't promise that I will be back in the morning. It is getting too risky. Will you do that for me, please?" Kota pleaded.

"Of course we will. Just be safe."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Kota repeatedly as he was once again returned to his spiritual body back in his cell. An anxious looking Wizardmon knelt before, his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Oh thank Yggdrasil. I thought you never would have come back," Wizardmon sigh in relief.

"Wizardmon, what is going on?" Kota asked searching the wizard's eyes.

"Kota, I am so sorry for having to bring you back, the footsteps were coming closer, and I couldn't risk it."

"Footsteps? Wizardmon, whose were they?" red eyes widened at the word fearing if it could be Myotismon.

"SkullMeramon I believe. I could hear the rattling of chains coming from down the hall. I would have allowed you to stay, but I couldn't risk anything."

"It's okay my friend, it wasn't like we had any scare attacks before."

Wizardmon smiled softly at the child knowing that he had the right intensions. "Tell me, what news have you been able to gather?"

"Victoria is going to give Yumi one more day allowing her to have a breather. I think she had enough time for that in my opinion. Um…I think that was all."

"Thank you Kota, this means a lot."

"You are welcome. I'm glad I could help."

"I'm going to take leave for a bit, I need to investigate something. Please, wait until morning before going back out. While you might only project a hologram appearance, Myotismon isn't stupid, he'll figure something is going on or spot you when out feeding. I worry that Phantomon or ever SkullMeramon could show up on a moments notice."

"All right, I promise, only for you."

"Thank you."

Wizardmon patted his head before taking his leave from the cell heading to the stairs leading to the main floor. So many things were circling through his head revolving around Yumi and her safety. Myotismon would kill her in a heartbeat. He started to suspect that plans might be forming by other digimon to take her out. He couldn't just stand there and let something like that happen. He didn't put it past Myotismon at all.

When he got to the second floor, he was passing by Myotismon's study. The door was opened a crack and a glow from a candle burning came from inside. Voices could be heard discussing something. At first Wizardmon wasn't sure what it was until he got close to the door. Checking to make sure the coast was clear; he pressed his ear to the door.

"I am getting impatient of all these failures DemiDevimon," Myotismon's voice came out coldly.

"Master, I apologize, but I do have a sure fire plan that can't fail."

"Oh preys tell what that might be," Kudamon's voice filled the air.

"Well, so far, all of the digidestineds crests have glowed, all except for **hers**. Simply looking at it, I can easily break her spirit and keep her from returning to the group."

"While that does work to an extent, how do you plan of disposing of her?" Myotismon asked raising an eyebrow at the small digimon.

"Well…I…um…" DemiDevimon stammered.

"Only part of a plan, how pathetic," Kudamon snickered.

"Kudamon, that is enough," Myotismon snapped.

"Yes master."

"Why not take out the leader first? She is of no use to us. Once she is out of the way, the others would be easy picking for after," DemiDevimon piped up, happy that he actually thought of something.

"You do have a point there, but why deal with someone who has no digimon? She can not protect herself. Take out the weakest link first, no sense in keeping them around. The go for the others, there will be no back up," Phantomon suggested in his airy voice.

"Master, a thought. Why not get rid of the digidestined that possess a digimon first then take her out. She can't defend herself in anyway. She relies on the others to protect her," Kudamon remarked.

"Now that sounds like a delicious plan. She won't know that hit her," Myotismon grinned wickedly. "DemiDevimon, go, do not fail me."

"Yes master."

Wizardmon let out a quiet growl hearing the malicious thoughts. If only he could reveal himself to the girl. Right now, he needed to lie low and wait for the right time. When he saw DemiDevimon fly close to the door, he quickly took off down the hall; he was going to make it his business to see what the bowling ball with winds was up to.

DemiDevimon left the room flying down to the main floor; Wizardmon quickly took to leave and followed him in no mood to lose the bat. He wasn't sure what he would find or how things would turn around, but he was determined.

Yumi ducked under one of the branches obscuring her path. A low growl escaped her when she scraped her leg for the tenth time. She was getting sick and tired of this place and would be grateful to be back at home. Ha…home…what home? She couldn't help but laugh bitterly. She had no home, not with her mother anyway. It was just hell on earth for her there.

"If I knew how to get home," she sighed leaning against a nearby tree. "Ha, that's a laugh, looking forward to being home. Victoria, honestly, where could you possibly be?"

Anger was filling her more than it had when she split from the group those many weeks ago. A relief filled her to be away from the group so she could think clearly. Only problem that seemed to bring was the fact that her mind was constantly reminding her she was destined to be alone. She had no purpose here. This was all a joke. A sick, disturbing joke. She was caught in what seemed limbo. She didn't want to be home; she didn't belong there, and didn't belong here.

~flashback~

-Several weeks ago-

Yumi started her journey on her own through the desert. A feeling of regret filled her for not telling Kiva that she was leaving but she wanted to do this on her own. This wasn't just a mission to find Victoria; this was a mission to be united with her digimon at last. The others only slowed her down and through only of themselves. They didn't understand how it felt to be without a digimon.

Since arriving on Server, Yumi started to have dreams of finding her digimon at last and being part of the group. Although the dreams were never vivid on whom the digimon was, she kept her hopes up that it was leading down the right path. The dreams always seemed so real to her, there were times where she insisted that she could feel her digimon next to her.

It was during those times when she debated to sleep and see him and know the depression of it all. She couldn't stand it once in a while, to see only an image in her dream and then wake to see nothing there.

"I just wish, just for once, I can meet you," Yumi sighed thinking back to those memories. More and more she kicked herself for not finding the clues.

After some time she had been able to find her way out of the desert and into a forest. This was a much needed transition from being stuck in the desert for days. Her hair pulled into a bun to keep from being on her neck.

"This better be worth it, it has been so long since I had a signal from my digimon. I pray that my dreams were correct about you. I don't wish to be on some god forsaken goose chase."

She embraced being the shadows once more, less likelihood of getting burnt. A breeze came over her cooling her off.

"Victoria, you better be here. This does actually seem to be a good place then any to start searching. The only thing. Where do I start?" she groaned exasperatedly looking around at her surroundings.

Yumi took out her digivice and started to push button after button, changing the style of the map thinking she could spot something to point her in the right direction. Areas she was in; blank. Section perhaps hours walk away; blank. Even the amber colour was gone.

"You were constantly alive before. Why not now? I need you more than ever."

These were pleas she would never utter around the others, if any were to hear these, it would be instant torment of harassment. Letting out a sigh, she kept moving onward, no care of where this would take her. She felt so defeated; tiredness was quickly sinking in making her groggy and not thinking straight.

Further up ahead of the path, rustling could be heard through the trees off to the far side. Her eyebrow rose in curiosity. She had never heard these voices before. Perhaps she could get answers to her questions. Wait! What was she thinking? Getting any help from digimon here? She would be killed for sure.

Stepping through the brush hidden behind a tree, Yumi could see what appeared to be a tiny bowling ball with wings cowering in front of a…was she losing it? A bubble?

"I am getting fed up with your constant failures DemiDevimon. I will soon have my bats take care of you if you fail me again."

"Master, I am sorry, please," he pleaded to the figure inside the bubble.

"The crests posses their own special meaning. Soon that power will be strong enough to defeat me. I will not let that happen. Do you understand what that means?"

"I have an idea master."

"Balance possessed by the girl known as Victoria; Silence to the one with the Puppymon, Kiva. Tora in possession of compassion. Mark, the carries of ambition; Robert to faith; James, sacrifice. Yukito in possession of enlightenment. The youngest one: Kisho in power of the powerful of them all; Fate. Yumi…"

Yumi let out a stifled gasp. What would be the meaning of her crest?

"The carrier of wisdom."

"I promise my lord, I won't let you down. I can hand this…"

Yumi didn't stick around to hear the rest; she had a bad feeling where this was possibly going. Her? Wisdom? How could that be? She wasn't a wise person. No, she couldn't think that way, she needed to stay positive.

Thoughts were circling in her head; what was she going to do? In one way she desperately needed to tell the others. On the other hand, this was her mission. Only problem was…even if she did want to tell the others, where could they be? There was no way that she would be able to find them.

"All right you stupid hunk of junk, show me locations, and show me my digimon!"

Yelling seemed like a great idea. She didn't know how exactly to get it to work. Sighing, Yumi thought the best thing for her body was to sleep. After finding a tree and climbing it, Yumi got herself out of danger and rested against the tree.

Weeks had gone by before a signal even appeared on her screen. She had moved from her spot to continue her mission to find Victoria and her digimon. The signals had brought her actual comfort and relief of Victoria returning safely and helping her friends stray from danger.

During those times, Yumi wasn't ready to reveal herself to them, she didn't feel as if her mission was complete as of yet. There still was not hint or trace of her lost digimon.

After some time, having a bit of a breather, Yumi later found herself back in the forest she started at, although it did make for a great camp site when she was able to make it back.

Her feet screamed at her for being on them for so long. She was grateful she wasn't winded but that was beside the point.

Ahead of her she could hear the flutter of wings and thought she would be under attack. Narrowing her eyes she got into a fighting stance ready to take him on. Flying towards her, was the same ball with wings tat she continued to see causing trouble with her friends.

"If I weren't mistaken, I would have to say you are DemiDevimon," Yumi snorted.

"Ah, so you have heard of me. You must be one of those brat…-ahem- I mean kids; the digidestined. Tell me, have you heard about the crests?"

"What importance is that to you?" shot Yumi refusing to back down.

"Oh yes, your that child, Yumi. Ha. The crest of wisdom, hee hee."

"What pray tell is so funny about that?"

"You truly think you are ever going to have that crest glow? Not even your friends believe you have any wisdom. You can never find it in yourself to be full of wisdom."

Yumi let of a growl of annoyance. "You scheming little jerk! Truly think I am going to let you get away with this?"

DemiDevimon let out a laugh as he flew off toward the night sky. The laugh echoed after him causing Yumi's blood to boil.

~End flashback~

Yumi couldn't help but kick herself for ever listening to that deceiving bat. She knew better than to even listen to him. Her friends would never utter those things to her. Somewhere though, deep inside she wondered. Was he possibly right? She shook her head. No, she couldn't think that.

Moving further through the forest, Yumi made her way toward her makeshift camp. Exhaustion filled her, desperately she longed for sleep. Sadly, the silence would never last; she the sound of flapping wings filled her ears.

"You dare show yourself here again?" Yumi hissed turning to face the small bat.

"Oh I see you have missed me. I didn't know that could actually happen."

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, such a mouth. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Yumi refused to say any more, she didn't want to give him any more feedback.

"Finally for a loss of words? I never thought that could be possible. I just came by to deliver a message to you."

"Oh and what would that be?"

Wizardmon hid behind a near by tree watching the situation go down. He so wanted to shoot him out of existence. However, he was so proud of his partner with the way she held herself against the bastard.

"That you will never be the greatest digidestined, you are a mere weakling. You will always be the worst, due to the lack of a partner. There is not one single thing you can do; you are just interference to the others."

"Enough!" Yumi screamed blocking her ears. She desperately wanted to break him to throttle him but couldn't. Fury filled her but was over taken by despair. His words hit hard, worse than the mere crest never glowing comment.

A wicked grin formed on DemiDevimon's face seeing her finally become broken. Satisfied he took his leave. Wizardmon was furious, how dare anyone hurt his partner like that? While he had a longing to comfort the girl, he had to return to the castle and deal with DemiDevimon. Wizardmon was not one to be appreciative of people and digimon to harass his partner. He watched helplessly as Yumi slid down the tree.

Narrowing his eyes, Wizardmon followed after DemiDevimon keeping a distance and keeping out of sight. He couldn't risk showing himself, especially what he had in mind.

When he saw the back of DemiDevimon, his right hand started to glow. "Thunderball!" The attack struck the winged bowling ball in the back. DemiDevimon fell from the sky hitting branch after branch after branch. Wizardmon smirked at him before heading to the castle.

With his spirit high, he felt good about himself but needed to change his thinking once he neared the castle. He needed to get to his room quickly so no one would suspect anything. This seemed near foolproof; he just hoped that no one would expect it.

As soon as he was safe in his room, he thought sanctuary was his until an intruder entered his quarters several minutes later. Gray and red were the first things to catch the data's eyes.

"What do you want Phantomon?"

"Lord Myotismon wants to see you. Now!" the phantoms airy voice spoke.

"What is it he needs me for?" Wizardmon asked.

"Does it truly matter?" Phantomon snorted. He just told me he needs to speak with you."

Wizardmon narrowed his jade eyes at the reaper. He was always at odds with him.

"Oh, and by the way…he told me this like ten minutes ago."

"What!"

"Better hurry, you know how much he loathers tardiness."

Cursing the phantom, Wizardmon flew past Phantomon at top speed, the Ultimate's presence close behind him all the way to the throne room.

Annoyance filled the Data greatly at the malicious Virus' deceit. Could he have found out already how close he had gotten to his partner, or what he had done to DemiDevimon? He feared he put both of their lives in danger for pulling that stunt. DemiDimwit was of no importance; however, he could simply be on that.

His heart skipped a few beats when he stood before the doors where two Bakemon immediately let him pass, not a good sign. It meant that Myotismon had indeed summoned him. A sickening sensation filled him. Wizardmon cursed the Ultimate for delaying the message and blamed himself for putting the girl in danger.

Seeing Myotismon sitting at the throne while smiling at two square boxes, Phantomon lazily floating over to Myotismon's side, while SkullMeramon stood on the other, Wizardmon felt a sinking feeling the pit of his stomach when he saw SkullMeramon. This might be due to him giving Kota time to use his hologram to speak to the digidestineds. Bowed deeply, he was ready to explain his lateness in arriving.

Instead of anger, though, he sensed great anticipation coming from the vampire. Also not a good sign. An angry Myotismon was easier to predict. It usually ended in a beating and a warning. An anticipatory Myotismon was a wild card.

"You wished to see me, Lord Myotismon?"

"So at last you've decide to answer my summons?" Myotismon chuckled. "I'll have to decide on your punishment another time. For now, I have a little chore for you." He gestured at two boxes at his feet, and a slim dagger of about two-feet in length slid along the floor to stop between the items.

Warily, Wizardmon approached them as he scanned the room. Apparently DemiDevimon was nowhere to be found and another of Myotismon's soldiers seemed to be gone. Perhaps gone to get him.

The boxes were absolutely identical lidded boxes of light poster board only half a meter high, except that one was plain white and the other had tiny hearts printed on it.

The bemused Data looked up, waiting for more instructions. Was he now to act as a delivery Mon? But why give him a knife? Myotismon knew he was proficient enough in magic to protect himself, but not terribly well versed in handling metallic weaponry.

"It's a simple thing really. I'm sure even one of your limited powers can handle it," Myotismon said. "I want you to take up my dagger and thrust it deep into one of the boxes."

The wizard cocked his head. That was it? No, there had to be something else.

The Ultimate virus began impatiently rapping his fingers against his chairs arm rest. "Well? Come, Wizardmon. I haven't got all day and neither have you. I give you but two minutes to decide on which box to puncture. After that, I will give the honour to Phantomon if you fail in this task."

Hesitantly, Wizardmon picked up the dagger and hefted it. What was the vampire playing at? But he sensed no danger to himself, only the eager gleam in the three Virals' eyes. So... there was more to this than met the eye. But what?"

"Would it hurry your decision if I gave you a taste of my Crimson Lighting, soldier?" the Ultimate snorted at him.

Frowning, Wizardmon raised the dagger and prepared to use it on the box to his right. If one of these cartons was going to end up with an air hole anyway, he might as well spare himself the bite of Myotismon's lash.

"Oh...by the way, Wizardmon?"

The Data paused and looked up to see the vampire smiled pleasantly down at him. A block of ice settled in his stomach at the sight.

"Did I neglect to mention that Kudamon may be napping in one of these?"

Heh? Returning his gaze to the box at his feet, Wizardmon sought for a sense of his friend. Nothing. Nor from the other one either.

"Yes, it seems she fell victim to DemiDevimon's Dart attack, an accident, he says and he's placed her into one of these pretty boxes to sleep it off. I hope that doesn't affect your choice?" The monster's grin widened as the smaller mon gave a little choking noise. It was right that time that a RedVegiemon came into the room caring DemiDevimon. How could that be? When did DemiDevimon return? He swore he heard Kudamon's voice before he left. Oh bios, what was happening? What was truth any more?

The Champion took a step forward, green eyes promising dire consequences to the bat-winged rat. DemiDevimon got out of RedVegiemon's grasp and quickly ducked behind Phantomon. "Gee, Wiz, remember the time, will ya? Or do I get to take a 'stab' at this assassinat...oh, excuse me-this 'assignment'?" Phantomon couldn't help but grin at the Wizard as well. This was becoming an interesting turn of events.

"Why, you!" He powered up his hands.

"Hey, hey! Do you really have the luxury for that?" DemiDevimon reminded him. "Tick tock, tick tock... said the clock!"

That brought the wizard up short, especially the comment to him trying to fry him earlier. Myotismon was not likely to let him delete DemiDevimon. At least, not until this was over with. He didn't need mental powers to sense that the vampire was enjoying watching his predicament: the Virus was half out of his chair and staring at him unceasingly.

There still stood that chance that they were lying. He still could not sense Kudamon's presence within the room. Of course, if she was unconscious, then he wouldn't.

The Data raised the dagger over the left box. There was no way Myotismon would not let his best commander be killed just to torture him.

It wouldn't surprise Wizardmon though; DemiDevimon was constantly trying to get promoted. He'd shed no tears over Kudamon's death. If it was Wizardmon who actually struck the blow, then the Rat Demon might be held blameless.

Ah, Bios! He couldn't do this!

Sweating profusely, the Data sunk to his knees and shot pleading eyes at the Rookie. "Which one, DemiDevimon? Left? Right? Tell me which one she is in and I will spend all my free time as your personal servant."

DemiDevimon's mouth grinned so widely it threatened to leave the boundaries of his face altogether. He flew up to Myotismon's face. "Can I tell him, Oh Bloodthirsty one? Huh? Can I tell him?"

Myotismon smiled indulgently. "Can you?"

The digimon considered the question. "Nope!" He turned back to face the wilted Champion, orange eyes gleaming with pure malice, the exact same as when he faced Yumi. "Sorry, Wiz-tempting offer, but I just can't do it. However, I can take that fox sticker off your hands…" He swooped down to seize the dagger. With a growl, Wizardmon rose up and almost struck him with it, making the Rookie retreat.

"NO!"

Trembling, the wizard repositioned himself to drive the weapon into the left box, no doubt in his mind that DemiDevimon wished his friend's deletion. At least with him, Kudamon stood a 50/50 percent chance of surviving this ordeal. His eyes glanced to the right box, then back to the one he was poised to mangle, desperately searching for a sign of the cat's presence. A glimmer. Something!

But still there was nothing and he was running out of time. Two choices. But which of these 50/50 options was the right one to choose?

Wizardmon was now shaking so much he could barely hold unto the hilt. Rivers of sweat was running off of him in such quantity that he was in danger of slipping on it and falling on the floor. He brought up his other hand to help steady his grip on the knife.

Myotismon was practically out of his seat, a bit of drool trickling down his chin from his fangs. "Times up, Wizardmon. Strike now or forfeit the choice to DemiDevimon! Which is it to be?"

Which indeed! Left? Right? Oh, Matrix! Oh, BIOS! Ah DigiHell! With a yell of pure anguish, Wizardmon thrust the blade deep into the box at his left. He could it strike something within.

Seconds later, a reddish stain appeared at one corner of the box as a scarlet liquid began seeping out onto the stonework.

Wizardmon stared at the growing puddle in absolute horror, unable to move as the shock turned his muscles into the consistency of water.

He'd killed her! He'd killed her, he'd killed her, he'd killed her, he'd killed her, he'd killed her, he'd kill-

Large hands seized and lifted him away from the spreading redness. There was a flurry as several bats descended upon him, ripping away the material from his right shoulder until it was bared. He was oblivious to it, eyes locked on the pool of scarlet below. Nor did he react when twin fangs implanted themselves into his exposed flesh, ripping open the skin as if it was just another garment in the way. A tongue greedily lapped at the flowing blood, the vampire making sounds of pure pleasure as he kept the liquid flowing with extra nips here an there.

"..Mmm… your blood...ambrosia...so much terror... such wonderful fear and anguish."

Wizardmon felt his lower body solidify more and more as his energy was licked away by Myotismon's eager tongue. Dizziness washed over him as his departing power made him weak. He was nearing complete draining. Already he felt twice as heavy as before. He failed his friend and his human

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He'd murdered his one, true friend. She'd saved him and he'd killed her in return. Deletion would be welcome now. It was all he deserved for failing her so badly. He couldn't even face Kota or Yumi any more.

The tongue and fangs retracted as the blood flow nearly ceased, Myotismon's voice chuckling aloud.

"Oh, that was so tasty! I really must thank you, Phantomon and SkullMeramon, for suggesting this little play, it improved the flavour tenfold."

"Thank you, master," Phantomon and SkullMeramon bowed. "We knew you'd enjoy it."

"And you, DemiDevimon. You also performed your task well, for once. I'm surprised."

"Your Evilness," the Rookie grinned. "It was a pleasure. Can we show him now? Can we? Can we, huh, huh?" The rat flew around the Ultimate in dizzying circles. "I wanna see his face when we show him the 'fruit of his labour'! Heh, hehe, heh."

"Very good, DemiDevimon. You may open the boxes."

While DemiDevimon grabbed the dagger's hilt with his talons and pulled, Myotismon held his limp captive in a position so he could watch too.

No! No! He didn't want to see this! He wasn't going to look at her mangled remains! Wizardmon squeezed his eyes shut as both lid and sword came away. Why couldn't they just delete him? End this nightmare!

"Ooo... Bullseye!" The Rookie cackled. "Too bad all the juice has pretty much run out though. I'd been saving this baby to make a fruit salad with!"

Huh? Fruit salad?

Wizardmon cracked an eye open. Inside the box were only the gooey remains of an overly ripe red berry melon, the pinkish sides of which were utterly ruptured.

"At least this one's still okay."

DemiDevimon unceremoniously kicked open the lid on the undamaged box to reveal a second of the roundish fruits.

The Data groaned in relief. It had all been a trick! A horribly nasty trick! Kudamon had never been in any danger. One thing still plagued his mind. When did they all place this? Oh bios did he truly want the answer? For now he had been left in the condition of a worn out dish rag consigned to the trash pile! He couldn't even get to Kota to make sure he was safe.

Snickering, Myotismon let him fall to the ground where crumpled into a heap.

"A reward, DemiDevimon. You may have him for the rest of the night. Assuming you can manage to drag him back to your room."

"Yippee!" the Rookie crowed, bouncing on his clawed feet in glee, "Thank you, Oh Magnani-"

"Just remember, that if you permanently damage him, I will see to it you are turned into a handbag for Lady Devimon."

"Uh... Right… handbag."

Snagging the exhausted Champion by the back, the Rookie tugging his prize along as he slowly moved him outside into the hallway. "Well, Wizardmon, at least now I can get my revenge on everything you pulled! Oh, we're going to have such fun together! Or rather, hehe heh I am! And... Oh, sludge...I…eeergh!"-the rookie panted as he gave another fierce tug before collapsing on the wizard's chest. "Have you been laying on the junk food, haven't you?" he growled in accusation. "Get up, you miniaturized Whammon! I can't drag your carcass all the way to my playroom!"

"Go… suck… sludge fumes…" Wizardmon retorted with all the force he could muster.

"Why you-!"

"Demidevimon!"

"Errrgh! WHAT?" the Rookie growled as he spun around to confront the intruder. "I'm a bit busy-Kudamon? Er...um... nice to see you."

The white fox floated in the air eyes narrowed in annoyance as she studied the rat under hooded lids, looking for the entire world as if she was contemplating his death as she twitched her tail side to side changing into her Champion form before their eyes to a light brown body and dark brown fur around the feet. A symbol of a yin-yang symbol on its side. A sharp blade becoming her tail.

"You're scheduled for guard duty at the main gate. Why aren't you at your post?"

"That's tomorrow. Bakemon is on duty today."

"Not according to MY schedule. Now get to your post before I take a swipe at you with my blade!" Kudamon hissed angrily raising her tail to hang over DemiDevimon's head.

Demidevimon took one glance at the looming blade of a tail and gulped. He flew off towards the main gate, grumbling and mumbling all the way.

Snorting in disgust at the retreating Rookie's back, Leppamon went over to stand besides her fellow Champion and favourite underling. Not that she's admitting that to anyone. Knowing she was alone from prying eyes she allowed her body to dedigivolve to her Rookie form. A white fox was purple markings on the body could be seen and a gold bullet in her tail. She was one of the strongest of the soldiers to be able to digivolve at will.

Kudamon's breath caught as she saw the misty blue and red of his torn shoulder under the shreds of the jumpsuit. And his face so pale! It made the jade of his eyes stand out even more when he opened them and tried to focus on her. The puncture wounds explained why he hadn't shooed Demidevimon away himself. Myotismon's work. Her master had nearly drained the Wizardmon dry! "You're hurt."

"Yes. But you… are not," he smiled under the cowl, happy to see his friend safe from harm.

Kudamon looked around at Wizardmon's surroundings curiously noticing the wizard's hat and staff were nowhere to be found. She knew how he hated to be seen without his hat. It was always affixed to his head, just as he never removed the cowl over his mouth. "Your hat…"

"In… the throne… room… but," he whispered brokenly.

"I'll be right back."

"No! Its all right…I..." a coughing spasm seized him as he tried to call her back. He struggled to control it as quickly as possible, but she was already gone inside Myotismon's chamber.

It wasn't long before she returned with his hat and staff curled into her claws. Her expression chanced. Wizardmon couldn't tell if he had gotten to her or if she was merely putting on a mask.

"Here," she dropped the hat and staff onto his chest. "Myotismon says that you can have the next night off as he was very pleased with you. However, you'd better get back to your own room to recover before DemiDevimon's guard duty is over, or you'll be spending your free time with him."

Wizardmon searched her eyes trying to find any glimpse of his friend still in there. He cursed Myotismon for taking away those he cared about. "Thank you Kudamon, for retrieving my hat and staff... And for the warning. I will try to get back in time."

She turned to head down the long corridor, leaving him to struggle along the cold stones of the hallway towards the refuge of his room. They both knew he'd never make it in his condition.

"Kudamon?" Wizardmon asked in a weak voice.

The fox stopped, but did not turn around. "What is it?"

"I'm glad you're all right."

"Hurry, Wizardmon. You have only a quarter hour," Kudamon instructed the tail swishing.

Wizardmon watched her retreating back as he struggled to his feet toward his room. After ten minutes of her departure and him leaning against the wall to support himself, two Bakemon silently appeared at his side and wordlessly helped him get to safety. It was too much to be a coincidence. Bakemon didn't put themselves out unless ordered to. A good thing too, as he'd never have made it on his own power before Demidevimon could come looking to claim his hide. Kudamon had saved him once again. Wizardmon sighed knowing that he would be able to get to Kota's side for a while yet. He was just grateful though, no one expected anything of his helping of Kota and protecting his partner.

**A/N: All right, that was actually a little longer than expected, I apologize for the delay. I had this figured out after the last chapter and thought about adding more with Wizardmon. As a sneak peek, you got to see Yumi and her reasons for taking off. At least it wasn't just to be rid of the annoyance. Another fun filled chapter coming up next, I'll have it posted next week when I return home from Anime North.**

**Yumi: You had writers block, loss of muse and everything in between and after so long, bring me back in only for a short bit and it was a torture thing from DemiDimwit? -fumes-**

**Johnny: Chill out babe, at least you are back in it.**

**Yumi: Don't call me babe!**

**Me: Relax; I'm going to up on my updates more often. Just three more chapters till returning home.**

**Youngblood: Yay! Then I get my debut again!**

**Ember, Johnny, Yumi and Victoria: Stop being a drama queen!**


	34. The plan

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, Night Owl and my subscribers. Your reviews mean everything to me. Glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter and I must apologize for how bad Wizardmon was tortured. More excitement to come. Oh and a heads up, its now like four chapters till home time than what I originally said.**

**Chapter 34**

**Plans**

A light fog seemed to roll in during the night while the digidestined slept. The light from the early suns rays weren't as strong as it normal was when the group woke from their slumber. Ember and Johnny were still sitting around the already burnt out fire; only embers burned.

One by one the three preteens stirred from their slumber rubbing the sleep from their blurry eyes. Their digimon snuggled on top of their partners with no care for waking up.

The teenagers themselves could careless about waking up. It was a typical teen thing. Their own digimon sleeping peacefully at their sides. The sight was very serene than it normally would be.

Kisho curled his little body into Victoria more when the sense of morning came into view. He knew from experience with the group that as soon as the sun rose they were on the move again. The movement disturbed Victoria a bit causing her to let out a soft groan as she shifted around pulling Kisho closer, a yawn escaping her as she cracked open her eyes, a smile playing on her lips.

"Morning sleepy head," Victoria mumbled sleepily to the young boy. Her body yearning to go back to sleep.

"Morning already?" the small boy asked blinking his eyes not wanting to believe that it was time to rise.

"Yeah bud, I don't want to believe it any more than you do," Victoria yawned again as she craned her neck around the camp. "Although, I doubt there is anything big going on that we have to move right now," she reassured gazing at the group who were still struggling to wake up. James did an undead move of a sit up in a one swift move and look around blurry eyed and wild hair.

"Ten minutes be okay?" he asked unsure if Victoria wanted to wake up or not.

"Sure thing, I'm in no rush," Victoria reassured the child, lightly running her fingers through his hair. She did the exact same thing to Dani whenever she slept with her after a nightmare or whenever she was sick. Victoria definitely had a motherly side to her.

Kisho settled down once again into Victoria, drifting off into sleep while Labramon nuzzled against his back sensing his partner settled into sleep again. Labramon could barely open his eyes just like everyone else in the group. This was definitely a sleep day.

Kiva was lying on her back with her bag under her head substituting for a pillow while Puppymon was curled on her stomach deep in sleep. Her eyes were open and staring at the pale blue sky deep in thought. She was the only one in the group to be wide awake, just in no rush to wake up. She hadn't realized that Kota was no longer in the group. Although it did seem off to her that his presence wasn't by her side.

'_Puppymon, are you near awake?'_ Kiva asked her partner, lightly running her hand down his back.

'_I am slowly getting there O patient one, why do you wish to know? Or do you require me to get off so you can move?'_ Puppymon asked sleepily, a little on the amused side of his partners wishes and couldn't help but tease her.

'_You're funny Puppymon. You truly are,'_ she replied with an inward smile only Puppymon could see. She lightly scratched between his ears. For once, Kiva was in a good mood and a new side soon was to come out. So far, that was for certain few people to see.

'_I like this side of you, I have to admit.'_

'_Just had a great night, that's all. Finally had a night with no nightmares,'_ Kiva admitted shrugging lightly.

"Come on, I don't want to wake up," groaned Bearmon as James shoved him over. James had fallen back on the ground after Bearmon decided to do a pin movement from his spot on his legs.

"At least get your weight off me. You've been into the junk food again haven't you?"

The sound of sleepy laughter could be heard coming from Lalamon and Gaomon as Bearmon let out a small noise. Tora and Mark couldn't help but join in on the laughter as they opened their eyes to a struggling James.

"This is so not funny," James groaned crashing on the ground.

Not far from the pre-teen lay Robert and Yukito who were still sound asleep and with no ounce of gracing the day with their presences. Even Penguinmon and Tentomon were barely moving as they attempted to lie on them. Robert was on his back with an arm behind his head (all that had went numb during the night) and another wrapped around Yukito's shoulders. Yukito himself was curled into Robert with his head and hand on his chest while the other arm was pinned underneath Yukito's side.

Victoria, who had a good view of the two, couldn't help but smile at the two lovers. It was always adorable to see them in such a sleeping position as this. A pang of jealousy hit her that she didn't have someone to do that to. Yumi was too good of a friend to even suggest even a cuddle. Not like they hadn't done that before. That was something only the two knew.

Viximon, almost hearing her partner's thoughts came to nuzzle against her head and licked her cheek. Such a subtle movement seemed to ease Victoria's torment a little.

"You are so good to me Viximon."

"Anything to make you happy."

"Tell me we don't have to do any walking today," Tora groaned as she rolled on to her stomach, Lalamon taking refugee on her back.

"Well, we still need to get Yumi back to the group…." Mark responded as he sat up taking out his digivice from his bad and glanced at the still black screen of his device. It still hadn't come to life in the last twenty-four hours. "And…hey…wait…where's Kota?" Mark asked realizing that the small boy wasn't part of the group any more.

"Oh, sorry, you all looked so peaceful; we didn't want to wake you. Kota said he needed to return to the castle, he was really panicky about it. He did say thought that he'll try to be back as soon as he could. He just didn't know when. He was sorry that he couldn't have said goodbye," Johnny explained looking over at the group with a mild shrug.

All at once, it was if an alarm went off, those sleeping or already awake, turned their heads to Kiva, who was now sitting up holding Puppymon in his arms. She raised an eyebrow at them with the stares they gave her. Hadn't they realized she had been dealing with Kota coming and going, mind you, never once did he give her a warning of him disappearing.

"Before any of you say anything, understand, I trust him. This isn't the first time he disappeared. I just have to trust he'll come back," Kiva explained. Even those words were something she even had to make herself believe. The others at first weren't sure at her words but knew it wise not to question her.

"So, the question remains. What do you suppose we do today? Go after Yumi or just see what the day brings?" Tora asked looking over at Victoria.

"Why are you looking at me for? Do I look like I have all the answers?" she sighed a little. "We'll see what the day brings," Victoria replied propping herself up on her elbow trying not to disturb Kisho. "We need a day to ourselves anyway."

"It's settled then, we'll just have a relaxing day," James announced digging through his bag.

"As long as we don't have to move, I'm happy," Vitoria admitted.

"How about a game of soccer?" James grinned a little too excitedly.

"Ask me that one more time and you won't live to the next morning," Kiva warned as Puppymon jumped from his arms.

"Turn down the perkiness over there hyper one," Viximon scolded curling into her partner who was back into a relaxed state of mind.

"Aw, you two are no fun. Mark? Robert? Yukito? Tora? You four up for a game?" James asked turning his attention to the other members of the group.

Mark, who was sitting up stretching, shrugged his shoulders, he didn't mind doing something other than searching for a loss cause. Tora pushed herself to her knees, knocking Lalamon off her as she brushed her hands together.

"Sounds fine to me."

"You better be kidding me. It is far too early to be doing that," Yukito grumbled running a hand through his hair.

"Be that way. Ember? John…"

"We don't play, don't even waste your breath."

James shrugged his shoulders as he stood up from his spot with Bearmon at his feet. Mark, Tora, Lalamon and Gaomon all stood up as well going to his side. There was no sense in wasting the day away with sitting around. Being nice enough, the small group headed off to search for an open space so the others wouldn't be smacked in the head by a rogue ball.

"Finally, silence," Labramon and Puppymon mumbled.

"Thankfully…mind you, he is a dead man for the rude awakening. I'm more alert than ever," Victoria sighed.

"No more sleep then?" Kisho asked.

"Best to wake up anyway little man, no sense sleeping the day away."

"Well, now that the rest of us are awake, now what?" Yukito asked in earnest.

"Seriously? No freaking clue, I just want to spend the day carefree. I understand that we've all had our time apart, but honestly this does seem like a good idea."

"You rather split again?" Robert asked misunderstanding her meaning.

"Hell no! You guys were a pain in my butt to find in the first place," Victoria really had to watch her tongue around Kisho. "James and the others aren't that far away. I frankly want to see what else is around here, especially if there is a safer place for us to sleep."

"Well, if you are going to do that, I think Robert and I will go locate some water with Penguinmon and Tentomon," Yukito suggested looking up at Robert and the digimon. "Our bottles are getting low and -" he took a sniff. "- I think we can all use a bath."

"That does sound like a good plan."

"I think I'll stick around here, just want to think," Kiva shrugged. There seemed to be something on her mind and she truly wasn't sharing. None of the others noticed, which Kiva was fine with.

"All right little man, what do you want to do? Go with Yukito and Robert, come with me for a stroll or stay here?" Victoria asked.

"Go with you!" he answered not wasting time. Kiva still filled him with fear but he wasn't going to admit that to her. It wasn't like didn't WANT go with Robert and Yukito, it was just, he wanted to stay by Victoria's side.

"Okay, now that we got that all settled out, we'll head out to our locations. If you find waster, come back and alert us," Victoria instructed holding up her digivice.

"Will do. You're not planning to go far are you?" Robert asked uneasily, unsure what Victoria's motives were.

"Probably not, stop worrying so much."

With that being said, Robert, Yukito and their digimon headed down a path through the forest while Victoria, Kisho and their digimon went down another path leaving Kiva and the ghosts alone at camp. Kiva used this time to discuss a plan with the ghosts.

Down one of the trails, Victoria and Kisho seemed to be experiencing a lot more difficulty than she originally anticipated. Tangled vines and branches littered the ground making mobility difficult and one wrong move would cause bigger consequences that either weren't looking forward to experiencing.

Viximon and Labramon were facing an even worse time as both constantly got themselves trapped in the vines unable to dodge them like their partners could. Yelps and squeals were heard calling out for help more than once.

There was the option of having Victoria and Kisho carry their digimon but that could risk their manoeuvring through the entanglement with the digimon in their arms.

"We never should have come this way," Kisho moaned resting against a tree after Victoria helped with getting him over the branches.

"If only there was a clear path, it would make this a lot easier to get through," Victoria sighed as she stepped through the foliage. Her foot got snagged on something causing her to yelp as she struggled to free her foot. "I hate this stupid forest!" she cried out in defeat.

"Victoria!" Kisho called out running to her side.

"I need you to pull on my arms, as hard as you possibly can."

Kisho took her hands into his and started to pull on them as Victoria desperately tried to free herself. Labramon and Viximon went to help as best they possibly could.

"Gah! There has to be a better path to go down," Victoria grunted. "Ow…ow, Kisho easy. This is no use."

"Here let me help. Viximon digivolve to…Renamon!"

"Now you decide to digivolve," groaned Victoria exasperatedly.

"If you don't want my help, I can keep going."

"Oh, don't you even think it. Help me!"

Renamon smirked as she went to break away all the branches and whatever was around her poor partner's leg. There seemed to be something almost gripping the leg refusing to let go.

"What the?" Renamon went to dig in more.

"Renamon, what is it?"

"Not sure yet, just stay perfectly still."

Victoria gulped as she eyed her digimon as she kept digging in more. Renamon would never just stay quiet, there had to be a good reason for it all.

"Get off my partner! Don't you give me those eyes!" Renamon yelled at something. A tentacle slid up Victoria's leg even more making the mysterious digimon's point clear, she was his now.

"Okay, something moved, get it off!" Victoria screamed.

"She fell into my home, she is mine now."

"Oh no she isn't!" Renamon swiped her claws at the thing causing it to shriek and let go of Victoria's leg as she scrambled out of the entanglement.

Little red marks lined her leg with disturbing looking ooze. Victoria shuddered at the sight. "That is gross."

"I doubt he'll bother us any more."

"I hope not," Victoria huffed examining the marks more. "What in the world lives in the forest with tentacles that could do that?"

"I couldn't even tell you."

"I seriously hope Yukito and Robert are having better luck."

The path through the forest became thick at times where other times it was smooth sailing. Yukito and Robert needed to be careful with every step they took. There was no way of knowing what would be lying in wait for them.

Penguinmon, as small as he was with his chubby legs, was secure in Yukito's arms. After five minutes of walking, Yukito noticed the fatigue and struggle overcoming Penguinmon. Instead of letting his partner struggle, he took pity on him and held him in his arms.

"There has to be an easier way to get through this forest," Yukito huffed.

"It just needs to be cleared down, that's all. I'm pretty sure as Kabuterimon I could easily do that," Tentomon suggested.

"We don't need to have our location discovered, especially if there are evil digimon around," Robert replied.

"It shouldn't take us this long."

"I just want water," whined Penguinmon.

"We all do, you just have to be patient."

The rest of the path seemed to be an easy one to manoeuvre through. At first the boys thought there might be something waiting for them or something was setting a trap. Allowing rational thoughts to surface, there was a chance that the path simply cleared after a while.

After twenty minutes went by, Penguinmon raised his head taking in a deep breath. There was something in the air that was familiar to him.

"Penguinmon, what is it?" Tentomon asked.

"The smell, there is a cool damp scent in the air," Penguinmon answered.

"What are you…" Robert questioned.

"I smell water," Yukito gasped turning his head desperately searching for the source.

"I smell it too," Tentomon explained.

"See, I told you I was right."

"Think you can find it?" Yukito asked his partner.

"I know I can."

The Penguinmon digimon was released from his partner's arms and quickly headed toward the source of water straight down the path to the end of the trees. There was a sandy patch before hitting the lake.

As soon as Penguinmon got to the edge, he immediately dived into the water, a content sigh escaping him as he floated on his back.

"Holy, this lake looks incredible, so pristine," breathed Yukito staring at the clear lake.

"It tastes so good. If only we could see this in our world," Robert mentioned.

"Now that we found the lake, time to go tell the others."

"Aw, you mean I have to leave."

"Sadly, yes."

It had been a while since Victoria and Kisho finally got through the forest of hell. Scrapes littered their body from low branches and unforeseen branches on the ground.

Renamon let out an annoyed growl as she placed Labramon back on the ground. She too had multiple scars littering her body, she was no longer impressed with it all. Labramon had been lucky to avoid it all. Renamon took pity on him knowing it was getting worse and worse.

"I NEVER want to go through that again!" Victoria vowed collapsing on the grass.

"You and me both," sighed Kisho touching all the cuts.

Victoria flipped on to her stomach looking around at her surroundings. There was high grass surrounding either side of them, only a single path stood in the middle of it all. Looking further on, she saw that it lead to a hill in the distance. It didn't look too bad of a location, it did seem to be a comfortable area. The only problem that rose from it all was the high grass, while it did make for good covering, who was to say lie awake waiting for them?

"Let's check and see what is beyond that hill. Maybe we could be in luck and find actual covering from the elements."

"We just rested though."

"I know, but we can rest when we get there. I promise."

Kisho let out a groan but knew it wise not to argue with her. His legs were tired and sore and the scrapes were bothering him to no end.

"You can rest on my back. I am pretty sure I can make it to the hill with no problems."

After the small group got themselves organized and Kisho resting on Victoria's shoulders, they trudged through the path leading to the hill. Victoria desperately kept her mind on the destination over her screaming, aching feet.

It didn't take long till a loud beep came from her digivice scaring the shit out of the two humans and two Datas.

"My heart is not going to be around much longer if this keeps up," Victoria gasped as she fished through her pocket producing the object glancing at it. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

"Victoria? What is it?" Kisho, Renamon and Labramon asked.

"I can't believe this. Yumi is near here!"

"Are you serious?"

"Well, unless my eyes are deceiving me, this is her dot," Vitoria showed them the flashing purple dot.

"That's where we're heading," Kisho pointed.

"Come on, I don't want to lose her!"

After placing Kisho on the ground, explaining that it would be wise for him to be running and try to keep up with her instead of on her back. The four took off on a sprint constantly checking the map to see if her destination changed.

"I can't believe it, we're getting Yumi back."

However, their excitement was short lived when a bright red light flashed over the screen followed by: Big news. Come back to camp.

Victoria's heart sank with failure knowing that Yumi's signal would be lost again. It took them so long to find her, even a glimpse would put her heart and mind at ease.

"Tori, what do we do?"

"I hate to say it…we go back to camp. We'll come back to continue."

The trek was a slow one at best, no longer the anticipation of finding something new. Although, the only exciting thing that did come from it was coming across a path that was completely open and vine and branch free.

Back at the camp twenty minutes later, everyone seemed to have gathered to hear what the hub bob was. Even the soccer game was put on hold.

"Hey guys, we got some awesome news," Robert said, once Victoria, Kisho, Renamon and Labramon showed up.

"What is it?"

"We located water. There's a lake not far from here!" Penguinmon said happily.

"Seriously?" Tora squealed. " A real lake? I can finally take a bath!"

"Like you weren't getting pampered enough at the palace," Victoria silently seethed. Tora was acting as if she hadn't seen a tub in months.

"Excellent, it would be great to have the feel of clean again," Mark replied.

"I'm for it, I'm sure the water could help with the scratches."

As if everyone noticed Victoria and Kisho for the first time, all eyes widened at the scrapes and marks.

"What in the world happened to you two?" James asked.

"Well one of the paths was a challenge and a half. We're both fine, just require water."

Mark let out a sigh as he fussed over Kisho who was backing away. "Mark, leave it be. Like Victoria said, we're fine."

Victoria and Tora headed to their bags searching for their swimsuits as quickly as they could. Kiva stayed in the same spot before everyone left. To hell with going to the water, she didn't want anyone to see her scars. She pulled at her sweater tighter while Puppymon sat next to her looking up.

"Come on, we can change in the forest," Victoria suggested pulling Tora gently to a thick section of the forest well hidden from prying eyes.

Tora kept up as best she could a smile on her lips as the two seemed to be getting along more than ever. Tora just wondered if this could last. She hoped it could. This was a side of Victoria she liked to see.

Getting to the privacy of the forest, the girls quickly changed into their swimsuits. It seemed amusing to Victoria looking at Tora's body. Pale skin stood next to a tan skin tone. Victoria had her reasons for being so pale. She hated anything to do with the light, she loathed people seeing her body period. She wasn't ugly or had a horrible body; on the contrary, she had an amazing toned body. She never saw any care to expose her skin.

Running back to the opening, the boys were already wearing their swim trunks. It was a change to see them in their trunks instead of their clothes. It really showed off their figures. Out of the five guys, Yukito was another blinding pale one. Although his pale skin was a lot whiter than hers.

"Wow, you look amazing," commented Mark to Victoria.

"Don't flatter yourself," Victoria snapped wrapping her towel around her shoulder hiding everything.

"Take a compliment will you?"

Victoria rolled her eyes.

"No sense in waist the day away. Let's go swimming."

The entire group, Kiva included made their way to the lake down a path that Yukito and Robert made making it easier to get from point A to point B with ease. A few of them made it into a race to see if they could get to the lake faster.

"Always the competition," scoffed Victoria as she looked around noticing than that something was missing.

"Where are Johnny and Ember?"

Kiva shrugged her shoulders not making it known that she sent them off to investigate something for her. She kept her face as blank as possible. She didn't fear Victoria, she just didn't want to reveal her plan just yet.

"It's beautiful…" Tora gasped as she reached the end of the trees cutting off any thoughts that Victoria might have. A huge, crystal blue lake stretched out in front of them, the suns light glinting softly on it.

Mark bent down and cupped water in his hands. His eyes widened as he sipped it. "Wow! I've never tasted water this…well, good before." The water was cooler and seemed to be more refreshing then the water that Yumi had on her person.

"You probably never will," Robert responded hating to have to admit it. "I guess this is what lakes would look like if it weren't for the pollution."

"Are we just going to sit around talking about the water or are we gonna swim?" James laughed, impatience filling him.

"You know, I thought we would just chat about this fine lake and all its wonders," Victoria said dully.

He grinned mischievously as he took a running leap into the waiting water and cannon balled into the lake causing a large wave.

The remaining group members all shrieked as the wave of water crashed over them soaking them to the bone. Kiva had put her hood up blocking any water that splashed her.

"JAMES!"

"Dude!" Mark yelled as he ducked. "Watch it."

"Oh, relax. You can't get any wetter," he smirked.

"He just had to have said that…"Penguinmon groaned as Bearmon cried. "Wait for me, James!" and jumped in causing another wave.

"No, Bearmon…wait…please…ACK!" Bearmon landed squarely on James' chest knocking the wind out of him."

Victoria narrowed her eyes as she ran to the edge doing a swimmers dive, thankfully the water was deep for that, she knew that the others thought she couldn't swim, due to her lack of interesting of being outside. The water hitting her scratches but felt so soothing to her.

"You are SO DEAD!" she spat, a deadly look in her eye. No she didn't take it serious, she wanted time in the water. She dived under the water again searching for his legs.

Tora looked back at the group, he hair dripping from the splash, "should we?"

"Think they should take all the fun?" laughed Robert.

Everyone, minus Kiva, ran for the water wanting to enjoy the wonderful day. Yukito stopped in his tracks looking at the lone girl.

"Kiva, aren't you going to join us?"

"I'm not a fan of swimming."

"Oh…all right."

For the next few hours, the teens and preteens laughed as they splashed and dunked each other. Any problems from the past seemed to have dissolved almost completely. Perhaps this was a change they all needed. Kisho allowed the water to help sooth his wounds, the dry blood now disappearing.

Kiva kept huddled in her own safe area once again deep in thought writing quickly in her diary. She hadn't truly used it in the longest of time. There seemed to be something of importance she needed to get down. Puppymon could hear the thoughts spinning wildly in her head. He wasn't sure if she was trying to keep him out or if it was something else. He knew better than to ask when she was in this state.

After some time the digidestined and their digimon were back at the camp site sitting in front of a fire as it warmed them up and dried them off. Kisho and Victoria were covered in an ointment to help fully heal the wounds. There was still a lot of sunlight left giving the three to continue their soccer game and for Victoria and Kisho to continue their search. Victoria never told the others of locating Yumi, she wanted to see if was truly her instead of having a let down.

"Let's go finish the game," James announced.

"Yeah, and watch us kick your butts," laughed Bearmon.

"Seeing as now we are altogether, we can all play," Mark replied facing Yukito, Robert, Victoria, Kiva and Kisho.

"Do we REALLY have to play? I'm, not really a soccer person," Yukito admitted.

"It'll be fun, truly. The more players, the better."

"James, there is no…"

"Come on! It'll be fun."

"Great, chipper boy is back again and now he is ten times worse than before," groaned Victoria. She glared back at the younger boy as he looked at her pleadingly.

"You are NOT getting me to play soccer. Besides, Kisho and I want to keep searching the area we were in."

"You can do that any time."

"Well, unless you want another night in the open. Be my guest."

"Point taken. Robert, Yukito, let's go, you don't want to miss out. Kiva…"

Kiva narrowed her eyes in response.

"You can sit on the sidelines," he laughed nervously.

Victoria stood up along with Kisho grinning at Robert and Yukito. Look of pure terror on their faces.

"Don't leave us."

"You'll be fine."

Victoria and Kisho headed off down the path in the forest while the others headed back to the clearing to continue the soccer game between trainer and digimon.

"Pass it over here Mark," panted Tora as she ran down the field, the soccer ball in front of him.

"Too slow Tora," Gaomon snickered as she cut in front of her and easily kicked it away after Mark kicked it toward Tora.

"Hey! No fair!"

Gaomon laughed as he kicked the ball down the opposite way, soon, his smugness quickly ended. Mark swooped past him and stole the ball so easily no one saw it coming. James was close by keeping the same speed.

"Shoot, Mark!" Robert yelled.

Mark kept up the speed watching as the digimon were making their way toward him. Kicking the ball hard, he shot it in the bushes on the side.

"GOAL!"

"Nice shot Mark."

"Naturally."

The sound of cheering echoed through the forest as Victoria and Kisho made their way down the clear path. Both of them knew of the reason to disappear. Yumi was close by and the two desperately wanted to find her and bring her back safely.

"Do you think we can find her?" Kisho asked.

"I hope so. There is a chance of us finding her. We just have to keep positive."

Kisho nodded as he kept up his strides with Victoria, Labramon and Renamon. There was determination in their footsteps, all of them simply wanting to get to Yumi as fast as possible.

At the end of the forest, Victoria took out her digivice, clicking it on and checking the surroundings. The screen remained blank for the longest time. A sign escaped all four thinking that Yumi would still be close by.

"We never should have left…that was our first biggest mistake," sighed Victoria.

"We can't get discouraged now, I'm sure we can find her again," Kisho replied trying his hardest to be optimistic.

"Kisho is right Tori, I'm sure she is close by."

"Let's keep moving, Yumi won't stay put for long," Labramon suggested sniffing the air.

Victoria nodded her head as she lead the way through the grassy path heading toward the hill. It was for absolute certainty if Yumi even went down this path or not. There was no telling where she could of gone. There was still no explanation of her refusal to return to the group. Although Victoria and Kiva could name a few.

The grass got higher and higher as Kisho and Victoria continued their way, the hill was almost in their sights. A faint flicker of a purple dot appeared on the screen from Victoria's digivice attached to her hip.

"I think we finally have contact," Kisho cheered happily.

"Now we just need to find her before its too late."

Through the long grass a twig snapped loudly causing the humans and digimon to freeze in their tracks. With their breaths held, the four listened with cautious ears.

"What the hell is out there?" breathed Victoria nervously.

"I have no clue, but whatever it is, it sounds huge," replied Kisho.

Renamon took a steep forward eyeing the surrounding, sniffing the air to determine what could possibly be hedging in the grass. Her eyes narrowed as her ears began to twitch, listening carefully, she couldn't grasp what exactly the thing was. Definitely digimon by the scent, still unfamiliar however.

"Diamond storm!" Renamon yelled getting fed up with the guessing game.

Oh, that did it.

Silence followed the attack, perhaps it was the type of digimon that couldn't handle a simple attack. Renamon smirked to herself thinking she did good.

Boy, did she ever hate being wrong. A rumbling sound could be heard coming from the tall grass. Whatever she got, it was furious.

"Volcano strike!"

Huge fire bombs came hurtling towards them burning giant paths in its way. With no hesitation, Victoria grasped on to Kisho's hand pulling him from harms way and ran off.

Labramon and Renamon stood their ground dodging the blasts letting it hit trees. Before them stood what looked to be a huge Rhinoceros and it was pissed.

"Volcano Strike!

"That's Monochromon, he's herbivorous and has a quiet nature, but once it gets angry, fearful counterattacks are doled out powerfully, equivalent to that of a heavy tank. The special attack is "Volcano Strike", where he fires out strong fire bombs."

"Volcano strike!"

More and more fire bombs ran down on the digimon. Renamon and Labramon desperately dodged them as best as they could. Renamon could barely get an attack out and neither could Labramon.

"You just had to attack the digimon with the anger issues," Labramon snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry that I didn't realize what it was at first."

"Renamon, what you two doing? This is no time for arguing. Get out of there!" yelled Victoria as panicked increased inside of her. Her partner was suicidal, that was the only was only thing that she could come up with.

"Run Labramon, get out of there," shouted Kisho.

Renamon stared straight at Monochromon not wanting to back down. She would do anything to protect her partner at any cost. Besides, she was the one to anger it in the first place. Labramon let out a low growl refusing to run. What neither of them didn't realize was two other Monochromon's joined the first on either side of them.

"RENAMON!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

Victoria pulled Kisho closer to her as she eyed the three digimon anticipating the next attack.

"Do you think they can win?"

"I'm not sure, the Monochromon look so much stronger. Knowing Kyubimon's determination, she could prove me wrong."

"Dragon wheel!"

Kyubimon jumped into the air spinning quickly creating a fire wheel. She held such determination into her attack to protect her partner.

When the attack made contact with the Monochromon, it didn't even faze him. Kyubimon stared at the bigger digimon, anger in her eyes. She didn't want to back down. That wasn't her. Once she started a fight, she wanted to finish it.

Dobermon stared in shock at the attack bouncing off. He could see that the Monochromon was getting furious now. This was not good. If they didn't get out now they were sure to get killed. He turned his head to face Victoria and Kisho, who were crouched low, dumbfounded written on their faces.

"Kyubimon, we have to get out of here, now! It's no longer safe!" Dobermon shouted not wanting to take the risk any longer.

"Not until I finish this!"

"What about your partner? Her safety comes first. Besides, he is too strong for you!"

Kyubimon continued to stare at Monochromon, daring him to strike. She didn't want to take the risk of looking away.

Dobermon growled as he turned to face the humans. "What are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here!:

Victoria nodded her head clarity taking over. Gently, she pulled on Kisho's shoulders bringing him back quietly so they could make their escape.

Dobermon let out a warning growl to Kyubimon to move. She didn't seem fazed by his attempts. Dobermon could see all the Monochromon getting ready to fire their attacks again.

"Kyubimon! Get out of there!"

Not taking the risk of getting herself hurt any more, Kyubimon back away from the situation at hand ready to return to Victoria and get her out of there.

The Monochromon were not going to let her get away. No one didn't just up and leave a fight. Especially when the other started the whole ordeal. More of the volcano strike attacks showered upon them. Kyubimon wasn't as lucky as she was before when one of them had hit her sending her flying through the air. She landed with a heavy thump on the ground and didn't move.

Victoria stared on in horror, she felt useless, and there was nothing she could possibly do. She needed to be strong for Kisho at all times so she could protect him. She also needed to believe in her partner.

"Kyubimon, you have to get up, please!"

Kyubimon groaned from her spot as the three Monochromon advanced on her. This could end badly if any of them were to step on her.

Dobermon ran toward Kyubimon nudging her with his nose trying to get her to move. "They're too strong," she groaned again struggling to get to her feet.

"We have to get you to safety."

"Victoria, what are we going to do?"

"Run! There has to be a safe place to get to."

"What about Kyubimon?"

Before Victoria could open her mouth to answer, Dobermon turned his head toward the humans. "Why aren't you two running? Get out of here!" he yelled still trying to get Kyubimon to her feet.

"What about Kyubimon?" asked Victoria snapping out of her trance.

"We'll catch up."

A shower of fire bombs littered the air, threatening to rain down on them. Thinking quickly, Victoria picked Kisho up in her arms and ran as fast as she could. Dobermon managed to get Kyubimon on her feet with great difficultly. As the attack landed on the ground, Victoria and Kisho were knocked off their feet as Kisho fell from Victoria's arms tumbling in the grass. Victoria was sent flying into a tree where the wind was knocked out of her.

"Kisho! Victoria!" shouted Dobermon scrambling to his feet and ran to his partner nudging his with his nose.

Kyubimon shook her head trying to clear her mind, she quickly took off toward Victoria after what occurred. She could care less of her own wounds at the moment. Fear filled her as she nuzzled Victoria.

"Come on kiddo, open those eyes. That's all you have to do."

The sound of a stampede could be heard coming toward them, which meant only one thing. Trouble!

"Kyubimon, get Victoria on your back and let's move!" barked Dobermon. He already had Kisho resting on his back ready to move.

Kyubimon wasted no time in picking her partner up by the scruff of her collar and moved her so she was lying across her back. Her and Dobermon needed to find shelter, but where? It didn't matter in the long run, their legs took them in any direction knowing that standing around would be dangerous.

Up ahead was an opening to a cave that served to protect them, hopefully in the long run. Taking the lead, Kyubimon took Dobermon to the cave and ran inside. Their ears twitched as they were engulfed in darkness, to the passing angry Monochromon.

"That was too close."

"You think?" sighed Dobermon lying down. "I'm just happy we got to some place safe.

Half an hour passed them by before deciding to leave the comforts of the cave. By then Victoria and Kisho came too, scratched banged up and wounded badly. Victoria seemed to be able to at least walk with assistance, whereas Kisho needed to continue to rely on Dobermon fully.

"This place seems to be a great location for us to be in. It's not out in the open. We have shelter. This is perfect," Victoria commented.

"What about the Monochromon?" Dobermon asked.

"I highly doubt we'll have a problem with them," Kyubimon stated.

"How do you know?"

"Just have to trust me. Now, we've been away for far too long from the camp…don't give me that look, let's just head back, tell them what we found and go from there."

"Okay," sighed Victoria dejectedly.

Gently as the four could, they continued their way back to the other campsite. Victoria resting against Kyubimon for balance, while Kisho continued to lay on Dobermon's back.

Compared to the earlier stroll, this took double the time but it didn't bother them at all.

The rest of the group seemed to be on edge on the disappearance of Victoria and Kisho. They had been gone for over two hours. Mark was ready to take matters into his own hands and go search for them himself. James had to keep reminding him that he just had to be patient a little longer.

Not longer after that, Victoria and the two digimon stumbled into the campsite. A look on her face told the group to make a comment on her appearance and there would be death.

Kyubimon and Dobermon dedigivolved back to their rookie forms crashing on the ground as Kisho sat on the ground too tired to move.

"What the hell happened?"

"Issues with a stampeding Monochromon. We are fine, sore, tired and in pain, but alive."

It didn't take long for Mark to start fussing over Kisho, making sure he was okay and freaking out at Victoria for not protecting him. There was more, but she drowned it out as she went to sit next to Kiva.

**Kiva: Find anything?**

**Victoria: A new campsite, we had Yumi's signal, and then lost it.**

To be continued…

**A/N: Holy crap, one long ass chapter. This seriously took me time to write. I had to redo a few pages at least three times. So here it is. This is going to be part of the three parts. You all will have to see how this turns out.**


	35. Break in

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, Night owl and my subscribers. Your reviews mean everything to me. I am so pleased everyone liked the last chapter. Yes that was one of the longest, I had to go back and cut things out. At least I keep you all on your toes. A little heads up, read carefully, will be jumping between characters. You'll see what I mean in this chapter. **

**Chapter 35**

**Break in**

Kiva watched as the humans and their digimon left the campsite in order to locate their findings. She grinned faintly as this gave her time to discuss her plan with Johnny and Ember, knowing full well both would help if asked.

"What does seriously not want to be part of a group any more? Key thing here; stick together," Johnny insisted looking over at Kiva, just missing the smile, curiously.

"I suppose it's just the different agendas everyone has. Mind you, there is something I have in mind though," Kiva admitted, there was a distinct change in her tone. She raised her eyes to the ghosts before her. There was something in those obsidian eyes that held a plan.

Puppymon already had been discussing her plan with her mentally while the group were all together for a social gathering. Continuously he gave his two cents into the whole matter, telling her the upside as well as the downside to what could happen if any of them get caught.

'_No one is going to get caught, this is fool proof. We obviously just have to be careful around the patrols,' _she argued.

'_Don't you still think this isn't going to be suicidal?'_

'_Not if we send the ghosts in to scan the area for any hidden passages and keep an eye out for guard patrol.'_

There were plenty more arguments to come and Puppymon was amazed she didn't sever their link after all that.

"You truly wish to get Kota out of there, don't you?" Ember acknowledged knowing all too well what was behind those eyes.

"What I truly need is information on the castle itself. Everything from security, secret passages, how many digimon I have to deal with, how long it will take to get there. I also need to know posts. I highly doubt this Myotismon will keep his castle open for attack. I also need to locate Kota and ONLY locate him. He is MY responsibility to rescue him."

"Let me guess, you want us to check it out?" Ember assumed.

"You two are the only ones that can sneak in undetected and it won't be suspicious with you two missing. We can't afford for all of us to separate."

"You are one crafty girl. What's the time limit for this mission?"

"No limit, just keep track of your time."

"I promise, we'll be quick," Ember assured her.

Kiva nodded her head, as soon as she received the information; she just needed to convince the group to help her. There was no way they would deny helping, they searched together for the rest of the group and would risk their lives if it were Kisho or someone else for that matter.

Ember and Johnny flew off into the afternoon sky scanning every direction possible to locate the castle. There was no way they were going to let Kiva down. The problem the two faced was which direction could the castle be in? The surrounding areas were huge, making it difficult to pinpoint an exact area to go by.

"How difficult is it to find a castle?" Ember groaned fifteen minutes into their adventure.

"I'm sure it's not that far away. How about we just start searching? Who knows what we'll find," Johnny suggested.

"Yes, let's fly aimlessly in an unknown world, get lost and be of no use to Kiva and never hear the end of it from Victoria," Ember huffed agitated as hell.

Johnny blinked at her taken aback by her out burst; no she was not known to be a sweet girl by any means but would never snap at him. He was truly afraid of her at that moment and didn't know what he should do.

"I…uh…um…well…"

"Well? Spit it out!" she yelled.

Johnny gulped backing away from her. Even when Kitty was furious he was never this scared of her. Usually he could brush it off. "I take it all back; we can do whatever you want."

"You cave way too easily. Just glad you see it my way."

Johnny sighed as he followed Ember through the sky heading north of the campsite completely bypassing the three groups. Somehow or another, Ember had a feeling this was the right way. There was also a chance that this could also lead the wrong way, a trap or simply become lost.

Thick trees passed under them giving no direction or indication of where they could recognize something. An eerie feeling filled their stomachs as both continued their journey. Even as ghosts something always frightened them one way or another. Ember shrugged it off refusing to show any fear. She didn't scare easily.

Passing by the forest, cliffs came into view up ahead cooling the surrounding area. Johnny and Ember glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Taking higher into the sky, their luck soon found them when an old, creepy style castle came into view. It was gigantic, similar to the one belonging to Pariah Dark. Ember eyed it suspiciously as she flew closer to it.

"I really hope it is easy to find Kota in there. This could take forever."

"Stop whining. I'm sure we can find him. Now come on, keep close and stay quiet," she snapped.

That got Johnny to shut up in a heart beat as the two landed in front of the castle taking in the dark, washed out stone. It was a place one did not want to be in at night. So far all was quiet for the time being, not a soul was out. Taking the opportunity, the ghosts went intangible and snuck inside the castle to begin their search.

Ember took the lead as soon as both were inside and tangible again. Johnny was in no mood to start a fight with her. He was already on her bad side and didn't want to know what she could do at any given time.

The inside of the castle was bleak, dreary and had the distinct feeling of foreboding. Johnny and Ember looked around with a mix of awe and fear. The halls continued on and on for what seemed forever. There were many closed doors that could lead to either additional hallways or bedrooms. The only problem that each one faced was keeping to a single hallway or splitting up and heading off down different ones. Even the closed doors looked inviting. There was no need to worry about a key if they were locked. There was so much exploring to do in this castle and both wanted to see it all.

"We have to keep with the plan; locate Kota and head back to Kiva to report," Ember reminded Johnny, as well as herself.

"But who is to say it will be easy to find him? There are probably hundreds of different passages in this place. There is no telling where he could be."

"Look, as long as we keep our heads about all of this, the better off we'll be. I'm sure we'll find something."

"This is going to take hours!" groaned Johnny following behind Ember who gave him a warning look. "It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack."

So the search began down multiple different passages. Some came to dead-ends, while others lead to never ending halls. There were countless backtracks the entire trip. An hour passed by and Ember and Johnny were finally off the main floor but no longer knew exactly where the start was. There were far too many turns to keep them all in order. Ember cursed herself for not leaving markers; however, she did reconsider seeing as it would alert the other digimon of their presence.

Giving up on following the passages, the curiosity of searching the rooms came to a strong point in Ember's head. They were lucky on more than one occasion heading down the halls to find no soul moving around. More than once the two took the risk to be shown in the castle. There was no fear in that. There were a few scare attacks along the way when a random Bakemon or RedVegiemon would be roaming around the halls almost spotting the two ghosts. There was always a bonus to going intangible, it kept them safe from harm.

As Ember expected, most of the closed doors led to additional hallways. Each one would split off to more hallways half way down the passages. Johnny was getting frustrated with not getting closer to a destination but at least they got to explore the castle a bit more.

On the other side of the castle, a floor above where Ember and Johnny searched, in one of the many rooms lining the particular corridor, Wizardmon lay on his bed. His eyes were closed in concentration as he kept urging his aching muscles to move. He cursed himself for being so stupid to believe any of Myotismon's devious tricks. The last one nearly cost him his life.

"How stupid does one have to be to keep falling into those traps of his? Kota, I am so sorry I let you down. I promise, in time I will return so you can be with your friend. Though I wish there were a way for the two of us to be free of this place once in for all. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case in the near future," Wizardmon sighed. He flexed his non gloved hands. Things seemed to be working properly in his hands again.

While Wizardmon held the ability to heal those in need, he, himself couldn't self heal. Even when he could, it was only at half strength. There was no rhyme or reason; it was just part of his healing. There were still many areas that were damaged and would take a long extent of time to heal.

"I could never be able to face Yumi the way I look now. This will only break her heart. My fear now would be never seeing her again. Only mere glimpses from far away were never enough."

Slowly, Wizardmon sat up, grimacing on the way as a hot fiery pain shot through his back. Several whippings back, Wizardmon recalled coldly. He had such a hard time with authority and the rules that it called for punishment. He was amazed death wasn't on the list of possible punishments.

Right now, he was just happy he was able to move around on his own. Only the other day he was already attempting moving, he was heavily leaning on his staff for support. He couldn't make it two steps without falling. He felt so weak and powerless in this state. There were so many times he recalled Kudamon scolding him for allowing something like this to occur.

Kudamon, the only true friend, side from Kota, he had at the castle. Even to this day, Wizardmon could remember their meeting. The two helped each other on any given day, Wizardmon worried about her safety above his own. Kudamon always told him that it was weakness to worry about others. You had to worry about yourself; she so elegantly put it more than once.

"At least you are finally on your feet with no trouble," Kudamon remarked from the doorway.

"I guess time has a way of healing most wounds."

"Don't you mean all?"

"No, there are too many wounds that could never be healed. You know that better than I."

"Don't speak of such things!"

"I never meant to get under your skin my friend. I just tell truth."

Kudamon looked away with a small huff at his sayings. How dare he say such ridiculous things? There were so many things that he didn't know about her, or what she had to deal with all those years ago.

"Whatever…how are your wounds?" Quickly as that, she immediately changed the subject.

"Slowly healing. I fear there is much more to go by for this. In time I shall be back to my old self."

"I'm glad. Please, for the time being, don't get on Myotismon's bad side. I'm sure things will end up worse than they need to be," Kudamon warned.

"So you've said time and time again. I always seem to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"More like your thoughts are in the clouds. You've been so unfocused lately. What is going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry yourself about. I give you my word things are fine and I will watch my every step."

"I'm keeping my eye on you Wizardmon."

Wizardmon couldn't help but smile at her; she was so concerned for his safety. Obviously she wouldn't let anyone else know about this. He was forever grateful for having her at his side. Kudamon raised an eyebrow at him trying to understand what was going on in the mage's head. There was so much mystery behind his eyes that even she couldn't figure out.

"What are you smiling at?"

"At you; oh don't give me that look Kudamon. I'm just grateful for everything you have done for me."

Kudamon slipped further into the room to be at Wizardmon's side. There was so much caring between the, the other digimon was oblivious toward it. Her presence by his side filled him with happiness and the belief that one day things will be all right. Next to her was a small bag filled with different things.

"What's in the bag?" Wizardmon asked, although it was not necessary as Kudamon took out a small canteen of water.

"I got what I could, there's a little more in the bag, but I don't know if it'll be enough. I tried so desperately to get medical items, but I was nearly caught in the process," Kudamon explained handing the food to Wizardmon. He actually got the hint on the additional food. They were meant for Kota. Even though Kudamon tried not to get attached with the boy, she knew that Wizardmon cared for him and would rather see him healthy.

Down in the dungeons, pacing in the minimum spaced, dark cell, Kota was getting restless. Sure, he had been cooped up in the cell for two years; it didn't mean he would get use to it. One of the highlights, however, was the fact he had Wizardmon to keep him company. Whenever the digimon was able to come down, he would stay with the boy for hours on end. Both learned different things about each other, Kota shared his darkest secrets and Wizardmon revealed important ones of his own.

Since being put into the coma five years ago, Kota lost all connection with those he cared about; mainly his parents and Kiva. After being sent to the digital world, he went into a depression and swore he would never befriend anyone ever again. Life was so uncaring that he would be in a place of limbo while those who did this to him walked freely. He was forever grateful for Gennai taking him in and showing him the utmost respect and kindness. Over two years with him, Kota's perspective on things changed again bringing on a lighter side.

After being kidnapped and brought to the castle, Kota slipped back into the depressed state, cursing himself for trusting that he was wanted. When he met Wizardmon, the digimon was able to once again prove to Kota there were those who could be trusted.

All the while he was destined to rot in the cell; Kota still had no particular understanding for why he was kept in a cell and what Myotismon could possibly want from him. He was simply a kid…a kid who somehow managed to wind up in the digital world. There was also the possibility of him being a vampire, but that made no sense. Kota slammed his head on the metal bars disregarding any pain receptors.

"Wizardmon, where are you?" Kota sighed sliding down the bars to finally sit on the dirty ground. Over time he grew to ignore it.

"Aw, is the little boy concerned for the Wizard?" a mocking voice asked behind him.

Kota let out a groan as he realized who the voice belonged to. It was another thing he learned to just ignore like everyone else in the castle seemed to do.

"What do you want sludge breath?"

"Somebody is in a mood. Don't tell me you are a little irritated that don't have your precious friend down here to keep you company," DemiDevimon simpered.

"Keep it up and I promise I'll make your life a living hell."

"What petty threats. For someone stuck in a cell, you would think to give up this charade."

"I might be stuck in here, but it doesn't mean I won't hurt you when the time comes."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me!"

"DemiDevimon, get away from him," Kudamon snarled.

"Or what?"

"Oh, I don't know, have the pleasure in watching Myotismon rip out your wings. He's looking for you."

"You're lucky brat."

DemiDevimon flew off, leaving a fuming Kota who was grasping the bars, anger written on his face. Kudamon looked down at him, a look in her eyes telling him there is no sense in fighting something like that.

Calming down somewhat, Kota returned to his spot on the ground and tried so desperately to relax his racing mind. Kudamon, for as long as he could recall, would watch over him when Wizardmon was out. In no way were they friends but she did have a soft spot.

Upstairs, Wizardmon set a few of the items Kudamon could get for him in a bag. She had left some time ago due to rounds and training. Wizardmon knew Myotismon would want to keep the two separated as long as possible.

He didn't know home many times he would risk himself getting caught by visiting Kota. He worried about the boy from the beginning. Right now, his only hope was that Kota was going all right, he felt horrible for leaving him this long. He tried to at least be at his side as many days as possible. He could not forget the day he met the young boy those many years ago.

~flashback~

Wizardmon retuned back to the castle once again after another mission. He didn't mind those missions from Kudamon; it at least got him out of the castle and away from Myotismon. As he was doing his rounds down in the dungeons, he noticed something new in one of the cells. The figure was curled into a ball at the far corner of the wall.

The boy's silver, cheek length hair was sticking up all over the place. His clothes, a simple pair of dark blue jeans a light grey shirt were torn; either by a fight or wandering around the digital world for so long. The only thing missing were his shoes. Wizardmon figured that perhaps Myotismon ordered the other digimon to take them away making it impossible for the child to run away.

Wizardmon's heart sank seeing the poor thing. There had never been a human in the digital world before. He did hear rumour while upstairs that SkullMeramon captured a child from one of the monks. At the time being, there was no knowledge of something unique about him. He could tell the boy was frightened; this was a new place to be in.

Wizardmon gripped the bar as he continued to gaze upon the boy. He stirred a bit; the boy knew someone was standing there. He was still furious for being taken away from his sanctuary with Gennai. Was this digimon here to gloat or ridicule him? Was he there to reveal to him how weak he was? He no longer wanted to hear it; he would rather be miles from there.

"What do you want?" the child hissed.

"I don't want anything. I just…"

"Then leave. I heard all the bad mouthing from the others," the boy snapped.

"I'm not here to bad mouth you. I assure you."

"Right, what other reasons could possibly have to you down here then?"

"To talk."

"I don't want to talk…just leave."

"You don't have to talk, you can listen…"

"Just leave! I don't want to deal with any of you!" the boy yelled turning to face Wizardmon, red eyes blazing with anger.

Wizardmon backed away unsure of what he could possibly do or say to comfort him. He felt so saddened for him. No child should ever be in his position. This was something Wizardmon wished on no one. Giving the boy his space, Wizardmon took his leave back to his rounds. The anger in the child's voice rang so clear in his ears he couldn't will it away. He just hoped that perhaps one day the boy would give him a chance to talk to him.

The next day, Wizardmon headed back to the dungeons to once again talk to the boy. Wizardmon's hope was that a new day would bring out a more talkative child. Once again, the child was curled up in the corner of the cell shivering from the cold. The dank air did no justice to those down there. His back was to Wizardmon, but that didn't mean the boy didn't realize he was there.

"Why do you insist on coming back?" the boy asked before Wizardmon could get a word in.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Am I that fascinating of a subject that you have to study me?"

"I'm concerned, that is all."

"Ha, that is a laugh. Concerned for me? I'm pretty sure your kind would rather see me dead," the boy scoffed.

"My kind? Why would you put me in the category of those digimon and insist they are my kind?"

"Because you are different just like they are. You reside in this castle, so either you belong here, or there is more to it than what you are letting on."

"You seem to have things pretty figured out haven't you?"

"I have only been here possibly two days and by what I've seen, there are two set of digimon I would prefer to avoid like the plague. The one that looks like a bowling ball with wings and that big guy with the flames and chains."

"Only two days and you already know who to avoid…took me a lot longer to realize that with the SkullMeramon…"

"Who?"

"The one with the chains. It never dawned on me that he was one to never mess with. There is another one, Phantomon that you want to keep your distance from."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Just some pointers."

"It makes no difference. It's not like I am ever going to trust any of you anyway."

With that, silence filled the dungeons once again. Wizardmon was happy that the boy actually talked a little more this time around then he had the day before. He just wished that his trust could be there. He did understand though that the boy had been through so much, so why should he trust him.

Day after day Wizardmon would visit the cell, usually bringing food he could collect and a blanket. Little offerings such as those seemed to lighten the boy's mood bit by bit. There were still no actual personal talks or anything just yet. Some times the questioning of why Wizardmon would bring food to him was brought up, given the response of: "You need to eat and to keep up your strength."

After a week of visiting the cell one particular evening, Wizardmon saw improvement on the way Kota talked to him. All the other digimon were out of the castle along with Myotismon himself. That gave Wizardmon the chance to sit with Kota and not have to worry about being interrupted.

"I brought you some water," Wizardmon said sitting in front of the cell.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Forgive me, after all this time I have come to visit you, I have never gotten your name," Wizardmon mentioned handing over the canteen.

"What?" the boy asked taken aback by the digimon's question; little information was ever passed by them every time Wizardmon came to see him. Still, he couldn't take the risk, what were the chances that he was just there to collect information and bring it back to his master?

"What is your name?" Wizardmon asked again.

The boy kept up his guard, sure, what harm could come to talking to this particular digimon? He did come to visit daily, perhaps this one was different. "Kota…Kota Chiksta. What do they call you?"

"I am Wizardmon."

"You are not like the other digimon. You seem…different," Kota noticed sitting up a little straighter.

"I take it you have never truly met a lot of pleasant digimon have you?"

"Not particularly. Even when I first arrived here I had the worst luck with running into the worst of the worst. I was nearly killed. The fact that I was captured by that giant freak, SkullMeramon, from my safe haven made me rethink everything."

"Kota, please understand that not all digimon are evil. It does take time to get to know someone."

"Well, it doesn't seem to be getting better."

Wizardmon sighed sadly at Kota's words. He was trying his hardest to understand the boy and perhaps get him to trust him. Though Wizardmon doubted that he would actually trust him in this current situation. One thing still remained the same; the two did share some things in common when it came to trusting others.

"It will take time I know that, but please know that you can talk to me whenever you need to."

"It's greatly appreciated, thank you so much."

"I have to say, it took me a while too before I could trust anyone."

"Really?"

"Yes. I never always worked for Myotismon, before all this, I wondered around the digital in search for something."

"In search for what?"

"Something…or someone. Even to this day I am unsure of what it is, but I know in my heart someone is out there waiting for me."

"Then…how did you come to be here?" This caught Kisho's attention quickly and he was eager to know more about Wizardmon's searching's.

"Kudamon. She found me nearly passed out in the desert village; I hadn't eaten in days nor had any water in my body. She took care of me, she didn't have to, but she did. It didn't take long before those looking for her took both of us back here. I had a choice in the matter, I could become loyal to Myotismon or bad things could happen. Sadly, those bad things cannot be revealed, it is not for me to tell. So…here I've stayed. Although I keep close to my heart someday soon I will come across the one that I have been searching for."

"It must be hard to not being near those you consider friends. I know those very well."

"What do you mean?"

"Before I came here, I came from a place called Earth. I have this really dear friend, she means everything to me. When we were eight, a bunch of older kids got a jump on us, just because we were different, as well as the fact that a lot of people feared us. Of course, these older kids just didn't like us in the long run. Got me pretty bad. I don't recall a lot of things that occurred, but I do know that I am in a coma. I can remember hearing voices telling my parents the fate I've been put in. I've been separated by those I care most about. I just wish one day I can see her again."

"What is your friend's name?"

"Kiva Inuzia. We grew up together; my parents and her father are best friends."

"Sounds like you have someone watching over you."

"Yeah, that is true. I just wish I knew how and why I was sent here. Gennai sort of explained it to me but I didn't fully understand it and I still don't."

"Don't give up; destiny has a funny way of bringing things all together in the end."

"Wizardmon…can I tell you something…?" Kota asked Wizardmon a month later after daily talks and getting to know each other more and more.

"What is it?"

"I would never trust anyone with this secret, but I trust in you. I'm a vampire. Both my parents are vampires themselves."

"How have you been surviving without blood? If I knew this sooner, I would have gotten something for you."

"Easy. I appreciate that, really I do. The only thing is it has to be human blood and specific ones. I am very partial to those I feed upon."

"Only if Myotismon would take a page from your books," Wizardmon laughed coldly.

"There are different kinds of vampires out there. I hate the way a lot of them feed."

Time went by and Wizardmon kept his promise of visiting Kota. The trust between the two grew and grew. The conversations continued, even when there was nothing to talk about. Mostly when that happened, Kota got interested to know what was going on outside the window seeing as the only window he had was far too out of reach. With all that going on, the two grew to become close friends and Wizardmon promised to protect him no matter what happened.

~End flashback~

Wizardmon sighed as he headed out of his room and made his way to the dungeons. He would be happy to see the child's smiling face, or at least, a partial one that only Wizardmon could see. As soon as the coast was clear, Wizardmon snuck down the corridor toward the dungeons. His steps were still hesitant after the latest punishment. He cursed Myotismon for all that he's done.

No other digimon were around, and as a bonus, DemiDevimon was nowhere to be found around the hallways. That was probably his only upside to everything. There wasn't a day that went by when he wasn't tempted to choke the life out of him.

'_Get those thoughts out of your mind; you need to stay focus on the task at hand. Kota is counting on you,'_ Wizardmon scolded himself angrily.

Roaming around the part of the castle, Ember and Johnny continued their search. Already they came across numerous dead ends, even phasing through the walls leading to nowhere. That or the drop of a lifetime.

"Five hundred rooms and still no actual destination. Are you sure we are going the right way Ember?" Johnny groaned as both stood in one of the corridors and tried their hardest to calculate their next move. Ember was mentally going through all the passage ways they took. She could remember a good chunk of areas better than most.

"Just trust me, all right? I think our best bet would be to go down this corridor. We keep bypassing it; I think it would be wise to take it."

"If we get lost, I swe…."

"Someone's coming!" Ember quickly interjected turning her head to the one side before going intangible. There was more than one time during their search they remained tangible and nearly getting caught. Johnny followed soon after and watched as a tall red skeleton like creature with a scythe in his hands walked past them. Even as ghosts a shudder went through their bodies in fear.

"That was too close," Johnny sighed moving to Ember's side as the digimon turned a corner.

"We need to be more careful. I am unsure if we can keep this up any longer," Ember warned.

"So…uh…long corridor?"

"Yep. Let's move."

The two bolted down the long corridor afraid of any more run-ins. No matter what, they needed to locate Kota soon before any of the digimon got wise of their presence. They had been there for three hours and were sure the humans were getting suspicious of their absence.

The long corridors quickly lead down another passage before coming to a set of stairs leading downstairs. The two ghosts stopped in their tracks upon coming to the doorway of the stairs and stared at each other.

"You don't think?" Johnny asked.

"One way to find out."

With that being said, Ember took the lead again, running down the stairs. Johnny kept up behind her as anticipation rose inside of him. There might be some good come from this at long last. Everything became dark and dank down there then it was upstairs. It was eerily quiet down there as well, which got the ghosts to thinking that perhaps no one was there.

Following the dust covered ground further and further from the stairs; voices became louder and louder. That spiked their attention quickly. Maybe their search wasn't in vain after all; their only fear that built up inside of them was the fact that it was running into digimon that could pose a threat to them.

Ember made her way forward taking the risk; she could take care of herself. One of the voices she heard sounded like a young child. Raising her eyebrow she ventured closer, beckoning a hesitant Johnny to follow her.

"Wizardmon, you have to stop these things, I can't afford to lose you."

"I know you can't Kota, I am so sorry for worrying you, believe me on that. Anything that Myotismon pulls I can't risk disobeying."

"So you just keep risking more and more of your life?"

"Kota?" Ember asked going tangible again.

Wizardmon and Kota turned their attention to the two ghosts. Wizardmon automatically went on the protector mode. He raised his staff at Ember not knowing if could trust them or not. Ember and Johnny raised their hands not wanting to cause any trouble.

"Wizardmon, it's okay. They're friends. This is Ember and Johnny. They know Victoria, Kiva and Yumi."

"Please forgive me, I was unaware."

"Don't worry about it. We are sorry to have snuck up on you."

"What are you doing here?" Kota asked.

"Kiva sent us. We don't have a lot of time."

"You two are getting me out of here?"

"No, Kiva wanted us to determine how long it would get here and how to get down here."

"Kiva's going to rescue me?"

"Yes, she wants to get you out of here."

"She'll be killed."

"She's determined."

"Kiva, the one I had seen with Yumi and Victoria? I'm sure she'll do fine. But she does need to know the grave dangers she's putting herself into."

"I'm sure she knows it won't just be her going either."

"All right. Yumi…have you…"

"No, they are still searching for her. I'm sure she'll be around soon."

"Will you have Kiva a message from me when you return?"

"Anything."

Kota went on to tell them his message before bidding them farewell. Wizardmon also gave them his own message to keep his identity secret. All would be revealed in time. After nodding their heads, Ember and Johnny took to the air and flew through the only window in the cell.

Time had definitely passed them by since being in the castle. It wasn't like they were planning to be in there all day long.

The trip back to the campsite turned out to be a quick one. There was no hesitation on the actual location like it had been when they left those many hours ago. Ember was still going over every corridor they took in the castle that led to the dungeons. Wizardmon gave her an actual map to follow when it got to that time. Obviously the room that needed to be well cleared of was Myotismon's. Even if it were on the second floor, the chances of taking a wrong turn were possible.

The sound of Mark's fussing over Kisho could be clearly heard as the camp came into view. Victoria rolled her eyes as she went to sit next to Kiva.

"I can't believe you would be that careless for not watching over him. He could have died. What were you thinking? Or were you not thinking at all?"

Victoria didn't seem to be paying attention to him as her and Kiva started to talk via sign language. Ember shook her head at the sight. How thick headed could somebody be? She gestured to Johnny to follow her lead as she went intangible. Both ghosts landed behind Victoria and Kiva and went back to being tangible.

"What are you two talking about? Discussing how hot I am?" Johnny asked.

"Sure we are, but it wouldn't be about you," Victoria smirked. Ember and Johnny were hoping for a good scare attack but Victoria and Kiva were less likely to scare.

"Aw, that's just mean."

"Suck it up. Where have you two been anyway?"

"Oh around," Ember quickly said elbowing Johnny in the ribs as he went to say something.

"Nice of you two to say something."

"Well, we wanted to get away from everyone. You know how it goes."

"I suppose."

"Kiva, can we have a word with you please?" Ember asked.

**Kiva: What is it?**

Ember raised her eyebrow and motioning her head to a blank location. Kiva got the message clearly while Victoria was still questioning what was going on. Kiva stood up telling Victoria one moment as she followed the two spectres.

**Kiva: What did you two find out?**

"The castle is far into the east. Past the clutter of tree and the high cliffs lies the castle. There is a way to get to it safely. Once inside is where it gets tricky…" Ember explained. She was stopped when Kiva raised her hand.

**Kiva: Kota. Is he safe?**

"Yes, a digimon is looking out for him right now."

**Kiva: What digimon?**

Johnny and Ember looked at each other with questioning looks. They promised to keep his identity secret, but Kiva did have the right to know the truth. Sighing both nodded their heads.

"His name is Wizardmon. That is all we can tell you. Just keep in mind he is taking good care of him."

**Kiva: I guess that is all we can ask for.**

"We have a map that can come in handy. I kind of did it by memory," admitted Ember.

**Kiva: Perfect. You have no idea how much this means to me.**

Shortly after going through the map, Kiva returned to Victoria's side who was now sitting by the fire with the rest of the group. She was discussing a possibly new location, there was more cover and still close to the water. It was a bit of a walk, but in the end, well worth it. Kiva took her spot next to Victoria moments later listening to the end of the conversation.

"Is it truly worth the risk?"

"I say yes. I feel highly exposed out here," admitted Yukito.

"Fine, in the morning we'll head out to the new location. It better be worth it," Mark sighed exasperatedly.

"When did you become leader?"

"When the leader abandoned us."

"Okay, seriously? Again with this bloody shit? Can we drop it please?"

"Fine fine."

As the rest of the group went into their own conversations, Kiva went straight for a conversation with Victoria, wanting to get her plan underway.

**Kiva: I want to go rescue Kota.**

That got Victoria's attention right away. She had inkling that Kiva was planning something; she could see it in her eyes. She just didn't think she was THAT serious.

"Kiva, are you mad? You do realize the dangers that surround this possible outcome right?" Victoria whispered in a hush voice.

**Kiva: If we stick together then we'll have no problem.**

"Do you truly know what would happen if by chance we were killed? Yumi is still out there somewhere. We don't know where for sure. Okay, don't get me wrong, her dot is screaming HEAR I AM! But that's beside the point. If there were something to happen and she didn't know we would never find each other."

**Kiva: I understand the risks, but we have to try. We did this the entire time we've been here.**

"Yes, but that is different. Risking our lives for someone we don't know could pose as a threat."

**Kiva: How can you even say that, you of all people?**

Victoria's voice brought everyone's attention to the two girls who seemed to be in a heated discussion. For once, Victoria seemed to be on Kiva's bad side. Everyone knew what that usually meant.

**Kiva: We have to go and rescue Kota, he need our help!**

"Kiva, that's suicide!" Puppymon blurted out startling everyone.

To be continued….

**A/N: So after months and month of waiting, I give you chapter 35 and another cliff hanger. Mean of me, isn't it? Don't worry; the next chapter will be the last part to this. And just think of it, only two more chapters until they are back in the real world. I am sorry for the delay, I originally wanted this as a Christmas gift to you guys, didn't go so well, then I wanted up before the New Year, I was also going to treat you to a double upload, sadly I have to rewrite the next chapter. It didn't work out the way I wanted it too.**

**Yumi: You and your bloody writer's block. Was that truly the case or were you deliberately trying to hold off on writing?**

**Me: Oh you'll never know will you?**

**Yumi: Evil, that's all I have to say. Just stay focus on this.**

**Me: Aye aye ma'am.**


	36. Break and Enter

**A/N: So here ends the three parts. Will the group go along with Kiva or will they stay behind? Read to find out. To San Child of the wolves, White Hunter, Night Owl, Black Prism of Certain doom, for your fabulous reviews. They make me smile. And I am so glad you all have patience with me with waiting on update, but I promise you all, you'll enjoy this. To the excitement mobile...**

**Yumi: I am sorry for our Author...she seems to have experienced a minor melt down of over loaded glee of some sort...that or experience sleep deprivation...**

**Chapter 36**

**Break and Enter**

**Kiva: I want to go rescue Kota.**

"Kiva, are you mad? You do realize the dangers that surround this possible outcome right?" Victoria whispered in a hush voice. The message got Victoria's attention right away. She had inkling that Kiva was planning something; she could see it in her friend's eyes. She just didn't think she was THAT serious.

**Kiva: If we stick together then we'll have no problem.**

"Do you truly know what would happen if by chance we were killed? Yumi is still out there somewhere. We don't know where for sure. Okay, don't get me wrong, her dot is screaming HEAR I AM! But that's beside the point. If there were something to happen and she didn't know we would never find each other."

**Kiva: I understand the risks, but we have to try. We did this the entire time we've been here.**

"Yes, but that is different. Risking our lives for someone we don't know could pose as a threat."

**Kiva: How can you even say that, you of all people?**

Victoria's voice brought everyone's attention to the two girls who seemed to be in a heated discussion. For once, Victoria seemed to be on Kiva's bad side. Everyone knew what that usually meant.

**Kiva: We have to go and rescue Kota, he need our help!**

"Kiva, that's suicide!" Puppymon blurted out startling everyone finally catching the entire plan.

"What's suicide? What is going on?" Bearmon and the other digimon asked.

"I want to go rescue Kota. Ember and Johnny were able to locate the easiest routes for us to go. Of course we'll have to be careful with the digimon that inhabit the castle, but that's all technicalities. We just have to stick together and fight as one and we'll be fine. I want to get Kota out of the castle and back here with me…the group. I'm sure if we do this together there would be no problem," Kiva explained through the bond.

"Just technicalities on the digimon that inhabit there? Kiva, you can't underestimate digimon that are working for him," explained Mark.

"How would you know about these digimon? You've never had to deal with them."

"The fact that Robert did his research on the digimon. I highly doubt he'll keep his guard down. Besides, from how we gathered from Ember and Johnny, they are not to be reckoned with," James argued.

"If we don't stick together!"

"Kiva, even if we do stick together, who is to say that our digimon will be strong enough to take them on?" Yukito said.

"Our digimon are strong enough. You saying they aren't?"

"I'm not saying that at all. Sure, they've gotten tougher over the time we've been here, but we can't just assume that these digimon are pushovers."

"Kiva, he's right. We might not be properly prepared to face them."

"I can't believe you are admitting defeat already."

"We aren't, we are looking at this logically."

"This is ridiculous. How many times have we overcome something through our travels? Do you truly think Victoria would have given up if it was that easy?"

"Hey, don't get me involved in this. Kiva, please listen to reason. We are looking out for your best interest right now."

"My best interest is to get Kota out of there. Nothing more!"

"If we were better prepared, had a plan as well as a back up plan and escape route, I'm sure this would not be a problem."

"Then quit gabbing and come up with one! Ember was able to get a map and knows the route. I'm positive with their help we can get out unharmed."

"It's still massive suicide. You aren't hearing yourself right now. You just want to hear what you want to hear. You can't handle the sad truth."

"That is complete bull shit."

"So you want us to go on a suicide mission for some person we don't even know? You're demented!" snapped Mark.

That was the final straw; Kiva was fuming now. How dare they say something like that to her? Her irritation grew more and more hearing the digimon put in their two cents over the matter. She grew upset with their comments as she hung her head. Her loose hair she left down fell into her eyes and over her shoulders. At one point it would appear as if she were about to go into tears. Not Kiva, Kiva never shed a tear, she just bit her bottom lip as the anger erupted from her.

"Oh, so we can't risk out lives to save MY friend, but we'd risk our lives to save Kisho or anyone of us?" Kiva snapped through the telepathic link using Puppymon to communicate. He could feel her anger radiate through the bond and feared for what would happen later on.

Out of all the digimon and digidestined, Kisho tried desperately to raise his soft voice for everyone to hear him as he kept insisting on going with Kiva. Although young, he wanted to help out as much as he could.

Labramon tried to get him to just drop it, that it was unsafe, even more so for a child of his age. Even with all the bad comments, Kisho wouldn't believe them, which really put Labramon in a spot because he refused to leave his partner's side and this was a good way to prove oneself.

**Kiva: You know what?! Fine! I'll go save him myself! I DON'T NEED YOU!**

She got so furious she broke the connection and signed her frustrations even though Puppymon still translated the message. Everyone turned their attention to Kiva in complete shock. This was a suicide mission, why didn't she see that?

Standing up, Kiva slung her sheath that held her sword, over her shoulder and took out her digivice and threw it into the air uncaring of where it landed and headed toward the edge of the campsite. As a faithful partner, Puppymon went to go follow her, not wanting her to go on her own. He came to a halt when he found her brandishing her sword at him, which was a mere half inch from his nose. Kiva glared down upon him with furious obsidian eyes.

'_You. Stay. Here!'_ Kiva said in a deadly voice through the telepathic connection before spinning on her heel and rushed out into the growing night. The more distance she put herself from the group and her, the better it was for her to sever her telepathic connection with Puppymon.

Everyone stared in complete shock at Kiva's actions and determination to save Kota. It took Puppymon some time to even budge from his spot. After all they've been through; this was the first time Kiva ever threatened him before. Sure they had their differences in the past, but it usually lead to not talking to each other.

"She's going to get herself killed. She doesn't stand a chance."

"Even if we did go with her, our lives would be at stake."

Ember and Johnny stood a few feet away from the group listening to the bickering. Ember leaned against the tree, her arms folded across her chest; her focus was toward the departing Kiva. Johnny himself kept his eyes on the group, standing in front of her.

"This is crazy, they are going to let her go to the castle alone and get Kota? They need to follow after her, help her."

"They are not going to listen to you. They already won't listen to Kiva."

"You think I didn't hear? Look, I'm going after her. She'll need somebody to help her."

"Count me out; I've seen what is in that castle, not dealing with it again."

"Fine. Stay. You are in charge of persuading the group to come to the castle," Ember insisted pushing herself from the tree fluidly.

"Ember, its still suicide to go back there!" argued Johnny.

"Johnny, you do recall that we can't die. Second of all, you are being a chicken for not even trying to attempt to help her," fought Ember knowing her ground she stood on.

"Fine, go, I'll try to talk them into it," Johnny sighed dejectedly.

"Good, don't take forever to convince them," Ember warned as she strolled passed him.

As soon as Ember was out of sight, Johnny rolled his eyes as he went to go sit on top of a high branch. Looking down, the roaring fire glowed brightly on the humans and digimon illuminating their faces. Mark, James, Victoria, Tora, Robert and Yukito were in a heated discussion over the whole Kiva going off on her own. Meanwhile, Renamon was able to get Puppymon over to digimon group along with Kisho, who didn't want to sit with the humans.

"Puppymon, calm down," Renamon hushed, sitting cross legged with Puppymon in front of her, she ran her paw down his back as he continued to mumble about regretting not going with Kiva and not agreeing with her in the first place.

"Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut, or at least went along with it. I could lose my tamer," moaned Puppymon burying his head into his paws.

"We couldn't have foreseen her actions. All of us think the same thing. It is dangerous to go there. I know you don't wish to hear those words right now, but it's true," assured Renamon.

"She's right you know, you can't keep beating yourself up over something like this," Lalamon agreed resting in front of Puppymon patting his head and nudging him slightly.

"I'm sure Kiva will forgive you in time. You have to have patience," Labramon assured nuzzling Puppymon with his nose.

"We've never done something like this before. Something so dangerous. I understand that we had scare attacks months ago with my evolution…but…nothing so extreme."

"The more you put yourself down, the more you won't be of use to Kiva when she will need you," Bearmon explained.

"He's right you know. She'll want you strong, she needs your encouragement," agreed Gaomon.

Puppymon kept his head buried under his paws but the mumblings ceased. Not once did he push the other digimon away, for the first time, he wanted to keep everyone close.

In the thickness of the forest, Kiva ran at full speed never once looking back, never regretting her decision of taking off and freaking out on the others. Her anger was skyrocketing with each step she took. The low branches, nor the roots or twigs that littered the ground bothered her or stopped her. A few of the branches did scratch her arms and face but she completely ignored the pain.

High about her, keeping out of sight for the time being, Ember flew in the sky finally catching up with Kiva. She didn't want to make her presence known until they were at the castle. She needed to make sure that Kiva went the right way. Ember didn't care about the others right away; she was more concerned with Kiva's well being.

Kiva's breath was becoming uneven as she kept jumping over the tangled branches and high roots. She couldn't get out of her head the words that Kota had spoken to Ember and Johnny. She kept his voice strong in her head.

**Voice over: Kiva, you mean the world to me. I don't know what I would do without you. I pray that soon we'll meet each other soon. All those times I had to leave you, it broke my heart fearing I would never see your face again. Please, if what they say is true, I pray that you be safe. I know I cannot change your mind from rescuing me, I just hope that you have the back up of your group with you. We both have lost each other in the past and only have found each other after all these years. My dear friend please be safe.**

Kiva could never forget those words, she knew he spoke the truth, and meant those word he spoken. That was her determination to rescue him and why she was so headstrong to get the others to come with her.

'_Those bakas! They don't realize how important this is!'_ she seethed mentally.

At the campsite, the voices of the humans raised more and more as the heated arguments got worse. Victoria was on her feet, the glowing of the fire on her face made her look far more furious than she felt.

"We all knew that she was going to try and commit suicide this way. Why would she take us down with her?" Mark argued.

"You idiot! She has her reasons for all this! Wouldn't it be better for all of us to take a stand next to her?"

"That's a laugh, this coming from the girl who even said to her that it was dangerous, to her own friend," Tora scoffed.

"Don't you dare start that!? I know what I said, and don't think I haven't regretted those words either."

"So you would rather have us get ourselves killed in the process?! Are you insane?" yelped James.

"I want to make sure she is safe, she needs all the help she can get!"

"Why don't you go after her then if you are that concerned?" Tora asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"I would rather know I have people coming with me!" shouted Victoria getting close to Tora's face.

"Don't you dare get in my face and yell at us! You should know where your won loyalties lie!"

Renamon looked back at the group letting out a low growl in full out warning for everyone to back off. Even Puppymon lifted his head to look at the group solemnly. As much as wanted to add his two cents in the matter, he needed to keep his mouth shut and keep his opinions to himself. He was the one to agree with them when Kiva desperately tried to convince them.

"Victoria! You fully agreed with the rest of us in the long run. Why change your mind all of a sudden?" Robert asked.

"Because I was wrong, I shouldn't have said those things to her!"

With the forest well behind her and clear sailing before her, Kiva made a dash toward the clearing. When the covering was gone, the realization of someone following her became apparent. Instead of looking back or confronting the person, she kept her mind focused on the task at hand. She couldn't risk stopping now; she wanted to get to Kota's side.

Ember maintained the height she was at; she wanted to keep her presence unknown for the time being. Although she wasn't stupid, there was a tiny odd feeling that Kiva knew that she was there. Ember was very proud of the girl for her determination. There was a bit of a similarity with the girl that she saw in herself. It must have been the stubbornness inside her.

On and on both headed through the night world, passed the clearing and coming upon the high cliffs. Ember was amazed that Kiva was able to keep going this long. Soon they would be upon the castle. There was still high debate of showing herself or just watch over her even into the castle itself. Letting out a sigh, Ember turned her head to glance back at the way they came.

"Johnny, you better be on your way."

Kiva located a safe area to get to the castle and stood by the stone wall. At the time being, she had no intention of moving right away. For the time being, she wanted to confront whoever followed her even after she told all of them to stay.

Ember hovered in the sky for a little while trying to figure out what was going on and why Kiva wasn't attempting to go inside. Was there no safe location? Perhaps she couldn't get inside at all.

'_I'm not stupid,'_ Kiva connected with Ember. Ember raised her eyebrow, how did she hear that? Since when did she possess the ability to hear thoughts? _'So…are you coming down or what?'_

"Want to explain to me how exactly I can read your thoughts?" Ember asked lowering to the ground to stand behind her. Kiva spun around to face her, eyes blazing.

'_First of all, ever notice anything strange in this castle when you and Johnny came to visit? Second, why are you here?'_

"Whoa, take it easy. You need to completely realize one thing, you never told Johnny and me to stay back. You were furious at the others when you told them to stay put."

'_Well, where is Johnny then?'_ Kiva asked un-amused that only Ember would show up and stay those things.

"Johnny didn't wish to come -hold it- I told him that while he is staying back to convince the others to come follow us."

'_Do you truly think that they are going to listen? That's a laugh. If they will not listen to me, what makes you think they will listen to him?'_

"He has his ways. Trust me on that."

'_So, why exactly are you here?'_

"To make sure you stay safe. Hey, don't argue with me, I came on my own free will. I can help you navigate through the castle."

'_Fine. But we do this my way.'_

"Of course, just know, I tell you to do something, don't argue with me."

'_So how exactly do we get in?'_

"Another reason its awesome having a ghost by your side," Ember grinned taking hold of the teens wrist and made both intangible, making it easier to simply walk through the wall.

Johnny was getting frustrated by the arguments already. That was all he heard for the last hour or so. He let out a frustrated groan as he jumped from the branch and landed on the ground a few feet from the group.

"Do you guys truly hear yourselves? You are allowing your friend to go off on her own? Would you do that if it were one of you guys? Would you go after your own friends?"

"But we could be killed," argued Mark.

"So? That's only one down side. What happens if it were Kisho or Robert or any of you? I'm pretty sure you would do the same with no hesitation, like Kiva. Don't give me that shit, 'Oh, it's not even our friend,' or 'we don't know him. He's a good kid. Suck it up, get off your asses and get moving!" Johnny snapped finally taking control.

"Why should we even bother? She wouldn't do that for us."

"Maybe if you were a little nicer to her she might."

That set off a whole new argument of its own; Mark and James seemed to be the main ones to start the whole fiasco. Victoria couldn't keep quiet about the whole thing any longer. This time however, Kisho refused to stay quiet, he had been silent long enough.

"STOP! I'm so sick on hearing these petty arguments. It would be better to go after her. I knew I should have gone with her in the first place. It would have been better than listening to this!" Kisho exclaimed infuriated, standing up with his fists balled up.

"Kisho that is enough. I wouldn't have allowed you to go anyway," Mark simply stated.

"That's my point Mark, I'm sick of you always coddling me. You can't protect me forever! Kiva is my friend too and I would rather see her friend safe!"

Victoria was floored by the brand new outlook of Kisho. He was finally standing up for himself. It was good to see that he wouldn't allow Mark to push him around any more. A hidden smile appeared on her lips.

"Perhaps being around the triplets was a bad mistake. The three are a bad influence."

"That is not true! You are far too ignorant to hear the actual words coming from his lips. You refuse to allow him his freedom and be able to breathe!" Victoria stepped in defending herself, her friends and Kisho.

Silence filled the group at the words that were exchanged. Victoria was really letting all of them have it. Suicide or not, the group was officially heading out to the castle. Victoria wouldn't allow anyone to stay behind.

Ember and Kiva treaded through the castle in total silence and stealth mode. The treks through the corridors were pretty simple with the use of the map, compared to the first time Ember and Johnny ventured inside. As the two continued their way down the corridors a ringing of voices seemed to enter their ears. The only problem was, no digimon were near them. It didn't take long before either of their voices seemed to sound clear the further they went in.

"Okay, this isn't freaking me out at all," whispered Ember turning her head this way and that trying to indicate the location of the voices.

'_They are not coming from anywhere around here. It's all in our thoughts. There was only one other place where this occurred. It wouldn't surprise me if this was the same set up.'_

"How did all that turn out?"

'_Anyone who uttered a word paid the consequences. I highly doubt it'll happen here. My only concern is, if we can hear their thoughts, who is to say they can't hear ours?'_

"You know, you have this gift to making people feel real comfortable in these situations."

'_It's a gift. However, while we are in here, I suggest we shield our thoughts unless necessary. I don't want to set off any alarms that could potentially get us killed in the process.'_

"You've been on these adventures for too long for your own good." Ember couldn't resist a grin over in Kiva's direction; she loved to joke around d with her, even in the dire situations. Making sure the coast was clear one last time; Ember led Kiva down a long corridor that was marked in colour ink.

Their footsteps thudded against the stone floor as the two continued to run. It echoed off the walls in every direction. The corridors seemed longer than the first time down them. It was her responsibility to protect Kiva, and that even meant avoiding the red skeleton.

Time ticked by as the two continued down corridor after corridor. Every so often other digimon would appear at ends of different passages causing Ember to drag Kiva down a different passage or making both go intangible at the last second.

"I feel as if they are following us," whispered Ember with a slight hiss.

**Kiva: There could be a possible chance of that happening. I think it wise to fully shield our thoughts. I am unsure if they were following us through our thoughts or are just appearing out of the blue.**

**Ember: To say they are coming out of the blue is complete bull shit. It just feels a little too coincidental.**

**Kiva: Believe whatever you want to say. Regardless, we need to be careful.**

Both froze in fear as a Bakemon floated past them, he didn't seem to realize that the girls were even there. Due to Ember keeping them intangible, the ghost digimon was oblivious to their presence. However, that didn't seem to stop a Gizamon or a Gazimon. The scent of the human was very strong to them. Moving closer to the girls, Kiva could feel her heart race at being caught.

**Kiva: We have to move. Now!**

**Ember: You don't have to tell me twice.**

Backing away slowly, ghost and human took off down another corridor before the two digimon could get close to them. Neither wanted to have their cover blown.

The corridors were turning into a maze the longer the two were in there. Time was truly ticking by and either one no longer kept track of time itself. With the determination of rescuing Kota and the fear of getting caught, their thoughts strayed far from time.

'_Are we even following the map anymore?'_ Kiva asked stopping to catch her breath, both tangible once again, knowing they were in a safe location.

"Sadly no. I don't even recall this corridor at all. Map or no map."

'_Just lovely. So where do we…'_ Kiva stopped mid sentence at the sound of footsteps coming down a second passage on the right side. A familiar tall, red skeleton digimon Ember encountered earlier that evening appeared. Kiva refused to back down this time, she didn't' want to appear weak, especially when she could head the digimon's thoughts.

**Analyzer: Meet SkullSatamon, a fallen angel digimon who fell to the Dark Area whilst pursuing strength and destruction, its body a pale shadow of its former self. Watch out when it uses its "Nail Bone" attack; which emit's a powerful light from the jewel on its staff that corrupts and destroys the data of enemy digimon.**

Ember could sense her tension rising as her hand reached for the hilt of her sword. Thinking quickly, Ember placed her hands on the young girl's shoulder pulling her back. Kiva resisted wanting to take on the digimon.

**Kiva: Let me take him out!**

**Ember: Are you kidding me? He is one I would not even deal with.**

**Kiva: If you heard the thoughts you would think other wise.**

**Ember: I am not going to have you risk your life. We need to keep focused on the mission.**

Kiva gave Ember a look of disbelief as the digimon's footsteps came closer still. Ember's concern right now was to get Kiva to a safe place, away from the particular digimon, and no arguments from Kiva were going to stop her. Pulling her down a separate corridor from where they came from, Ember ran at full speed to avoid any more run ins.

"This is becoming insane. There was no appearance of digimon when Johnny and I were here."

Further and further the two made their way down new corridors. The map no longer matching their present location. Ember didn't even want to take it out and check to see where they were. After all the twists and turns Ember wasn't entirely sure she knew exactly where she was taking Kiva.

Minutes passed by that felt like hours after taking a brand new corridor. Their hearts raced with uncertainty of what lay before them. Kiva felt as if Ember was deliberately dragging her down unknown corridors for the sake of it. Ember wasn't stupid, she knew that Kiva was getting annoyed but there was nothing she could do about it. Half way down the corridor exiting from another passage was SkullSatamon, there was no way that this could be a double, it had to be the same one. A sweat drop appeared on the side of Ember's head as she pulled Kiva back and fled down a second corridor.

**Kiva: Where are we?**

**Ember: I can't say for sure any more. Due to being sent down new passages, I am starting to get confused.**

**Kiva: Oh, that's very reassuring.**

Kiva let out a silent sigh as she continued to follow Ember. These mazes were getting to get and becoming very irksome. Several minutes passed by with the odd digimon appearing, instead of running or going intangible, Kiva took out her sword and challenged them or ended up knocking them unconscious, Ember couldn't help but join in and use her guitar to attack showing off her own power.

Johnny dodged all the trees in the forest as she showed the digidestined the way to the castle. It took them several minutes or more for everyone to finally agree to go with Johnny, Victoria and Kisho. Victoria was not amused at the fact that another argument erupted amongst the preteens. Bearmon, Gaomon, Renamon, Tentomon and Labramon all digivolve into their champion forms, carrying their partners. Victoria held on to Puppymon and Lalamon as she held tightly to Kyubimon. Tora sat behind her with her arms wrapped around her waist. As for Yukito, he was with Robert staying close to him, Penguinmon in his arms. The digimon were the only ones to see in the dark, better than the humans could.

"Johnny, how much further?" called Kisho.

"Just a little longer."

"You said that ten minutes ago," Yukito replied.

"So sue me, it's hard to navigate through the thick trees."

"I am going to be blaming you if anything happens to Kiva or Ember," Victoria warned ducking her head avoiding a low branch.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to them, I swear."

"You can't say that for sure."

"Are you kidding me?" seethed Ember seeing SkullSatamon coming down a passage directly in front of them thirty minutes after their last encounter with a Gizamon. This time, there seemed to be something odd about his eyes. Unlike before, where Ember assumed he just seemed to be randomly showing up, now, he was on the hunt and they were his prey.

'_Is he actually following us?'_

"That would be my guess. Down here, come on."

If they thought things couldn't get worse, they were dead wrong. A group of digimon started to gather around blocking their only exit. Ember went straight on her guard as Kiva gripped the handle of her sword. A handful of Pumpkinmon, Gotsumon, Bakemon, Bombmon, Gizamon, Gazimon and a Dokugamon were all gathered around them.

"Intruders!" yelled a Bombmon.

"Oh shit!"

'_I'm not leaving.'_

The attacks came all too quickly, Ember struck a cord on her guitar that sent out a blast knocking the digimon off their feet.

"Kiva, while I have them distracted, run! Go find Kota! He needs you alive rather than dead!" Ember commanded.

'_I am not leaving!'_

"So you've said. I can handle them. Unless you wish to get killed, be my guest."

Kiva let out a sigh as she swung the sword at a charging Gazimon. It was becoming impossible to take them all on at once and Ember wanted her to run? Was she insane?

"I am not telling again. Run!" Ember yelled nearly pushing the girl at a small opening before firing a pink blast from the guitar.

Kiva saw no other way out and there was no sense in arguing with the rocker ghost. She knew that Ember could handle herself and she had her own tricks up her sleeve. She took off running down the corridor after carefully placing the sword back in its sheath. Now that she was on her own, the importance of shielding her thoughts was imperative now so no other digimon could alert the entire castle or inform their master. She was officially taking matters into her own hands, Ember kept the map on her and she didn't know the exact layout.

Outside, Johnny was able to safely get the digidestined through the forest and up to the safe point of the cliff. Now was the time to properly come up with a plan, going into the castle blindly was not an option.

"What are something's we need to know about this place?"

"The big one, there's a tall, red skeleton that roams the halls. We have to keep out distance from him. I don't exactly have healing abilities."

"I thought ghosts couldn't get hurt?" Kisho asked curiously.

"We can, we just know when to go intangible. Ember can heal herself, only her. Now, the next thing to know, once we get inside, do not, under any circumstances, does not split up."

"How exactly do we get inside?"

"We can go over the wall or we can go through it."

It was clear to know what he was talking about and didn't need an explanation. The only fear all of them had was what would occur once inside. They didn't know for sure what kinds of digimon would be waiting for them.

Kiva ran down corridor after corridor, unsure where it was leading her. She was already lost; the hallways were starting to look familiar more and more, which wasn't a good thing. The voices of the digimon filled her head making it impossible to think clearly. She couldn't concentrate at the task at hand forcing her to stop and look around.

'_Damn it, this isn't good.'_

Moving around further, a ghost like digimon with a black hat came from the walls unaware of her presence right away. Taking the chance Kiva jumped in front of the digimon pushing him back.

"You shouldn't be here!"

'_I'll give you two options, tell me what I want to know and I won't harm you.'_

"Anything," the digimon insisted seeing the sword at her side.

'_Where would one hold someone captive?'_

"The…the dungeons, you have to go down the next corridor keep going straight then turn left and go down another corridor, you'll soon locate a set of stairs."

'_How do I know you aren't lying?'_

"I wouldn't lie to someone who has a sword pointed at me."

'_You better be telling me the truth.'_

Kiva went to turn away and leave him but decided at the last second to knock him out. She needed to find out more information about Kota's safety. Although she got to see him every so often, that didn't mean that Kota couldn't hide them.

Taking the digimon's direction, Kiva ran to the upcoming corridor and turned down another long stretch unsure what she was going to encounter. He luck seemed to be on her side when Porcelainmon appeared before her. She acted quickly before the digimon could attempt to alert the castle.

'_Don't even think about it, I need more info and I need it now!'_

"What do you take me for? An idiot? Think I'll truly just give over information over to a pathetic human like yourself?"

Kiva took out her sword in a quick movement and pointed the tip at Porcelain's neck. _'I was thinking more forcefully.'_

"Okay, okay take it easy."

'_There is a human that was brought into this castle years ago. Kota, what is his actual condition?'_

"Oh, that small child. What I've seen of him, scratches here and there…kid looks like he's been through hell," Porcelainmon snickered.

Kiva put more pressure on the sword drawing blood from the digimon before her. Porcelainmon for once showed a sign of panic, no longer did the joking around appear, the child actually meant business.

"I'm sorry, please don't kill me."

Kiva smirked as she removed the sword and hit the digimon over the head with the hilt. _'That'll serve you right for actually saying those things to me.'_

With the knowledge of where to go thanks to the Soulmon, Kiva noticed how quick it was to get to the dungeons. She noticed that no other digimon appeared; in a sense she took that as a good sign, in another sense, she feared for her life. Getting to the set of stairs, Kiva slowly descended down the dark staircase. She just hoped that it would be easy to locate Kota.

No lights appeared at all at the bottom of the stairs, she was in complete darkness. It was going to be a challenge and a half to find anyone in all the darkness. Cursing herself for not bringing any lights, Kiva made her way through the dank halls hoping to have some good come from all this. With her sight blocked, her other senses were kicking into high gear.

Footsteps could be heard against the stone floor echoing against the walls. Kiva kept turning her head to determine where they were coming from. Quickly she shielded her thoughts when the footsteps came closer.

'_You don't have to be afraid child,'_ a voice said through her mind.

'_Who are you?'_

'_A friend, I can assure you that.'_

'_Reveal yourself.'_

A light shone before her from a staff in the hand of a familiar figure. Even though Kiva never fully met him, she recognized him easily. _'I am Wizardmon, I am sure you have seen me countless of times Kiva.'_

'_How do you know my name?'_

'_Kota told me all about you.'_

Kiva was stunned by the news but never faltered; she was just relieved she finally ran into a friendly digimon. _'Can you take me to Kota please?'_

'_Of course, we were informed you were coming. Tell me, did you make it here all right?'_

'_Sort of.'_

Kiva went into a full story of what happened leading up to the current time. She refused to leave anything out. She was fuming by this time; she needed to get everything off her chest. She felt bad that she was raving to a digimon she barely knew and if she could truly trust him.

'_It'll be so much better if all of you could stay together, you have to work together or he wins.'_

Wizardmon lead Kiva right to Kota's cell, inside, Kota was sitting at the far corner curled up. He looked so depressed, so torn; the once perky child now looked like he lost his light. Wizardmon took out the keys from under his cape while Kiva gripped the bars. Quickly, he unlocked the door and opened it for her as Kiva dashed inside to go to Kota's side. Right before she got to his side, Kiva turned around ready to thank Wizardmon, only to find him gone. _'Thank you…'_

'_Kota…Kota, come on, wake up,'_ Kiva whispered shaking his shoulders.

Kota slowly rose from his slumber not realized right away who was in the cell with him. He brushed her off going into a do not disturbed moment.

'_Kota, please.'_

'_Wait…Kiva…?'_

'_Hey sleepy head. We need to leave.'_

'_How did?'_

'_Explain later. More now!'_

By this time, Kota jumped up fully awake with his arms around Kiva's shoulders. For the first time in five years he was finally able to wrap his arms around her. It felt so good to be with her once more, he didn't care if he was still in a coma, he finally got to see and hug her.

'_I've missed you so much,'_ Kota said voice muffled.

'_And I you, but we can talk more when we leave.'_

Kota nodded as he sat back and fully stood up with Kiva. The next challenge was to get out safely without the help of Wizardmon or the others. Somehow, Kiva knew she could do it, she needed to do it. Grabbing Kota's hand, she took him out of the cell and down the hall to the stairs from memory of what she could recall Wizardmon taking her.

Making their way up the stairs leading to the next floor, neither was expecting to come face to face with a digimon right away. Kota stepped up and took care of the digimon himself. He was able to mess with the digimon's data reducing it back to a fresh digimon.

'_Since when could you do that?'_

'_Figured that out the one day…sadly I got found out and was punished for it, but it was worth it.'_

The two made their way down the corridors away from the dungeons. The next step was to locate Ember and get the hell out of the castle. Kiva already grew weary of the castle and the make it brought. A satisfied smile filled her knowing her childhood friend back. As for Kota, he was simply happy to be free of his cell at long last.

Corner after corner the two ran; glad to be avoiding any digimon that lay in wait for them. Somehow that didn't ease their nerves in the slightest. Could a trap be lying in wait for them? Did a digimon go and alert Myotismon and now they were being hunted? All these questions raced through their minds, never once ceasing for a moments rest.

Again and again Kota would mess with those digimon that did appear, messing with their energy, forcing them to go back to digi-eggs or completely destroying them altogether. Kiva couldn't help but amazed at him. He was really proving himself more and more.

A sound of fighting could be heard somewhere ahead of them. Crashing echoed down the passages from powerful blasts. One of the things that went through Kiva's mind was Ember was surrounded by digimon and was getting attacked.

'_We need to move,'_ Kiva insisted grabbing Kota's hand and dragged him down the hall toward the sound of the fighting. Fifteen minutes later they were faced with a giant group of digimon facing off against the digidestined and the ghosts.

"Kyubimon, on your other side!" yelled Victoria.

"Dragon wheel!" Kyubimon shouted, her whole body turning into a fire dragon and aiming for two big digimon.

"Dobermon, you can do it!"

The attacks continued on and on, the other digimon didn't seem to be backing down any. It was almost if their luck was diminishing.

"Kiva!" called out Yukito hearing the sound of feet on the stone floor and turning to face her.

Puppymon lifted his head from Victoria's side, the digivice in his mouth still. He was hesitant still about going over to Kiva's side, fearing she was still furious with him. He slowly got to his feet and faced her fully.

'_Kiva, we need you,'_ he pleaded. _'Listen to me; I am truly sorry for what went down. I should never have disagreed with you. If you wish for me to apologize out loud I will. I will take any punishment you see fit,'_ Puppymon apologized making his way over to her, some distance between them but not by much, passing the digivice over to her.

'_You need to get in there, as partners we stick together. No matter what,'_ Kiva told him picking up the digivice.

"Puppymon digivolve too…Wolfmon!"

'_Good to have you back Kiva,' _Victoria said eyes glued on the battle but thoughts focused on her friend.

"Wolf blast!"

The attack was the only thing that could be heard before the remaining digimon were knocked down. The digidestined digimon stood glowering at them sending out their own attacks.

'_Would have been better if all of you could have at least made it with me.'_

'_Please don't start again. Please understand how deeply sorry I am and how quickly things changed after you left. I regretted not going.'_

'_Discuss this after; we need to focus on our digimon.'_

It didn't take long to officially take out the digimon that were coming out of no where. It was still a disturbing question to everyone of where the other digimon's master, Myotismon was. With the path clear and not taking the risk, Victoria got them to pull back and retreat from the castle. No one was arguing with her on that one, no way did they wish to deal with Myotismon.

Fifteen minutes later, eight digimon, two ghosts and nine humans were out of the castle and over the wall. Victoria pulled Kiva aside to talk to her privately. She needed to go in explanation mode with her, she deserved that much.

"Kiva, I want to apologize deeply for everything that occurred. I realize something like this can't be done alone. Honestly, right after you left, I regretted everything I said and did. As a friend I ask of you, please forgive me."

**Kiva: While I did not appreciate the abandonment. I am glad you did finally come. You of all people should know what it is like to lose someone and need to find that person. I hold only an x-amount of trust for people and I don't wish for anyone to break it.**

"Never again shall that happen. I know that once trust is broken it will take forever to win back. Please know I value our friendship and hold your trust close to my heart."

**Kiva: I forgive you, don't let this happen again.**

Victoria only nodded her head in understanding. She was glad that she didn't lose her friendship with Kiva and the two could continue to trust one another. Victoria herself knew how difficult it was to trust someone and hold on to that trust.

On the back of their digimon, excluding Tora and Yukito, the group made their way back to the camp. Leading the group was Victoria, Kiva with Kota behind her and Kisho the others remained behind them wanting to get back to the camp before anything bad happened.

"One thing I'm wondering is why didn't Myotismon show his face?" Victoria wondered.

"Oh, he was probably out feeding. Every night he leaves the castle and doesn't return until sunrise."

"First of all, how did you know about that? Second why didn't you tell us?" Kiva asked.

"I found out from Wizardmon a while again when he came to visit me with no fear surrounding him. And it didn't come to mind, I wasn't really thinking on that, my mind was strictly on escaping."

"Well, at least we didn't have to deal with him," Kisho breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, and Kiva, I wanted to let you know that I would have willingly come with you earlier. Mark refused to have me leave the site. I also didn't want to cause any more conflict. I just wanted you to know I was the first…well second to get everyone moving. Hehe, Victoria beat me to it on that round."

"You're a good kid, Kisho, I am glad I can count on friends like you."

The tension mounted by the time everyone returned to the campsite. The digimon, exhausted from the fight and travel, were back to their rookie forms and resting, if not, sleeping by the fire. Victoria, Kota, Kisho and Yukito (who did his apology as soon as they arrived. Kiva wasn't fully forgiving of him but accepted the apology nonetheless), sat by their digimon sipping at their water warming up room the cold night. As for James, Robert, Mark and Tora, the four were dealing with a very livid Kiva. Ember and Johnny say on the high branch smirking at what Kiva had planned for them.

"You can't be serious; there is nothing to even apologize for. You need to accept that we have our differences in all this," Mark, as always, started the fight after Kiva demanded for an apology.

"Oh I am being dead serious. How you all acted earlier this evening is completely rude. We were all able to get in there safely, just as I said we would. If anything were to happen to one of us and put into that predicament we would be there in a heartbeat."

"It could have turned out differently," Tora argued.

"But it didn't. What happened, happened. From each of you, I want to hear a sincere apology," Kiva demanded bitterly.

Robert was the first to pipe up; he didn't wan to deal with any of this fiasco any longer. "I was wrong, while I can't speak for the others, while it was still dangerous, we still could have helped you."

"Thank you, that's all I ask."

Tora, while still hesitant, spoke up next, her fear of Kiva still very strong. "I am sorry, if something like this were to occur again. I'll listen to you."

"Thank you…boys?" Kiva's attention turned to James and Mark annoyance filling her slowly.

Mark and James were quiet for some time, debating whether or not to give Kiva the satisfaction. Neither could come up with the right words to exactly say. The two needed to keep their smirks contained as long as possible. An irritated noise sounded inside Kiva's throat telling them to hurry up.

"Fine; I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not listening to you," James quickly blurted.

"I'm sorry that none of us came to help," Mark sighed.

Kiva just stood there not believing a word that escaped their mouths. The ignorance of those two, how can either one be so naïve and self absorbed? Without another word, Kiva refused to control her anger and punched both of them in the face giving each a black eye.

"Oh the power of violence," Victoria sighed looking back to see Mark holding on to a now bloody nose.

"She still holds on tight to the power of power of her fist doesn't she?" asked Kota lowering his water bottle.

"Yep, she feels it's the best way to get the message through."

"Not the bike, not the bike," Johnny panicked jumping to the ground when James got punched hard and stumbled back toward the motorcycle.

**A/N: So Kiva finally got her friend back but not without issues at the beginning. I originally had Kiva punch everyone excluding Kisho but thought against it. I am sorry that it seemed rushed; this chapter wasn't supposed to focus on any fighting. Keep your eyes out for the next chapter.**

**James: My poor bike**

**Ember: Enough with the whining, it was merely knocked over.**

**James: Not when it's my baby…**


	37. Found and Lost

**A/N: Le gasp, what is this? A double update in one day? I must be really generous to you guys then. Thank you San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, Night Owl's oath, and Black Prism of Certain doom for your awesome reviews, they mean so much to me. Low and behold a new chapter, this is going to be an interesting chapter to say the least. I got the idea for most of this chapter from a friend of mine on here. There probably will be some twists, so keep your eyes out for them. And have you noticed that this is becoming a very paranormal fanfic?**

**Victoria: Okay...I think our Author needs to either get some caffiene into her, tea or something...  
Me: I'm fine...-sees something sparkle- ooh shiny**

**Chapter 37**

**Found and lost again**

A few days passed by since the fiasco of rescuing Kota and the fight between Kiva, James and Mark. Tension still filled the air from that night. Kiva could careless of what they said behind her back, she still believed what she did was worth it. Victoria, Yukito, Kisho and Kota knew just to leave it alone and not bring it up. Their location also changed, moving to the site Victoria and Kisho found the other day. With the security of the cave, forest and long grass it made for a perfect cover. The lake wasn't that far either, maybe a good ten minutes by foot.

Tora seemed to find a comfortable place on the hill as she lay upon it and gazed at the passing clouds with Lalamon resting on her chest also staring up at the sky. Robert was resting against a tree with Yukito resting his head on his lap. Tentomon and Penguinmon were sitting next to the boys slumped over each other half asleep. The laptop on the other side of Robert opened to various pages. Kiva and Kota were by the opening of the cave in deep conversation, mainly on Kota's parents and how they have been. Kisho was off exploring with Labramon wanting to see if he could locate any new areas. As for Victoria and Renamon, both were once more in a meditative state enjoying the peace. Mark and James seemed to be in their own worlds, while Ember was playing on her guitar on the branches.

"Does this mean we don't have to move again? I mean, we can actually stay in this spot?" Tora asked suddenly, eyes still on the clouds.

"That is our hope. There is still the problem of locating Yumi, I just hope she is somewhere nearby," Robert replied running his fingers through Yukito's hair.

"Do you think there is a possibility of finding her?" Tora asked a hint of concern in her voice.

"There should be. Regardless, we have to go search for her," Yukito responded.

"Who is to say where she is, this place is freaking huge!" James piped up.

"You have a better idea?" Victoria snapped getting out of her meditation hearing the conversations.

"So you would rather spend hours if not days scanning every inch of this place, end up getting lost yourself, and losing any clue of Yumi?" Mark stated.

That actually made Victoria stop, he had a point, she didn't' want to admit it but he was right. "Look, we can't let Yumi stay out there any longer."

By this time, everyone stopped talking, the thoughts of Yumi still out there was upsetting as it was. Victoria had to keep her head that she will find Yumi no matter what. Even James and Mark ceased their arguments over the possibilities of not locating Yumi. Everyone knew all too well that Victoria was getting irritated more and more.

Kisho knew better than to come back with all the hassle that was going on. Both he and Labramon were still out exploring around the hill and valley. He could still feel the excitement overcome him the day her dot actually appeared on Victoria's digivice. He longed to see her again, she was like an older sister he never had. As he and Labramon moved further from the hill and campsite, the sunlight shone brightly on the howling wolf pendant that rested above his shirt.

"Do you think we'll find her?" Labramon asked looking up at Kisho.

"I hope we will, no, I know we will," Kisho replied, smiling at him closing his hand into a fist and raising it in front of him.

"You are so determined."

Further and further he went until a rapid beep sounded from his pocket. Labramon was the first to hear it and turned to Kisho.

"Kisho, your digivice is going off."

"Huh?" Kisho took out the digivice and stared in awestruck at the purple dot somewhere in the East direction. She was still further out from him seeing as his dot never showed up along with hers.

"Kisho, what is it?"

"We…we have to go tell the others. It…it's Yumi!"

"Yumi!" yelped Labramon unable to believe what he heard.

Back at the camp, a loud beeping sound along with a frantic flashing on the screen came from Robert's open laptop. Turning his attention from Yukito to the screen letting out a strangled gasp. Yukito opened his eyes, lifting his head looking at his boyfriend questioningly.

"Robert, what is it?"

"Y…Yumi," Robert stammered unsure of what he saw was true.

"What?!" everyone yelped, causing them to stop whatever they were doing and stared in disbelief. Yukito, himself, flipped over putting a little pressure on Robert's legs, but he wasn't paying attention and stared at the screen.

"You found her?" Victoria gasped scrambling to her feet nearly knocking Ember and Johnny over, as they came down from the tree above. She ran over to Robert and Yukito with Kiva close behind along with the ghosts.

In too much shock, he just pointed at the flashing purple dot separate from the other Digidestineds coloured signals. "Look!"

"I can't believe it," Tora gasped coming over as well. Victoria's mouth dropped open, how long had she been looking for and finally gets to find her?

"Yumi…Yumi!" yelled Kisho, breathing heavily as he ran back to the group.

Kota merely stood back from where most of the Digidestined gathered. He scoffed at the thought of their friend finally showing up after weeks of disappearances. Who did she think she was for abandoning them for this long?

Over in the castle, the knowledge of Kota's escape broke out amongst the castle, leaving one very livid Myotismon.

"Gack!" yelped DemiDevimon as he was slammed down the stone steps and hit the ground with a sickening thud over.

"Imbecile!" Myotismon snarled as he swept forward, his blue eyes blazing.

DemiDevimon whimpered looking up at Myotismon. "Please, Master Myotismon, forgive my mistake, I beg of you!"

"How stupid could you be to allow Kota to escape?" snarled Myotismon in response, stalking back and forth on the ledge above DemiDevimon. "Not only have that…balanced…Destiny…Fate… those brats Crests are starting to glow! One by one!"

"Everybody makes mistakes," DemiDevimon pleaded. "With what occurred in the castle, it was unbeknownst what happened. Besides sir," he added hurriedly as Myotismon glared at him again, "n-not all the children's Crests have begun to glow yet!"

He turned around and gestured to a glowing image behind him of a young girl with shoulder length black hair with red streaks. The girl was staring down at her knees, a blank look on her face.

DemiDevimon grinned before turning back to his boss. "Remember the other Digidestined I told you about? That girl has the Crest of Wisdom! And it's STILL not glowing, thanks to me!" He snickered. "Anyway, she still hasn't located her Digimon after all this time. According to my schedule, she should be meeting up with those brats soon. And then…when they're all together…that's when I'll strike!"

Myotismon just shot him a sneer. "When YOU'LL get them? Please-I'm in no mood for comedy."

"But sir!"

He shut up immediately as Myotismon took a menacing step forward. "Get rid of that one girl. She's defenceless without a partner and even one death will…weaken the rest considerably."

"But!"

"And if you fail me again, my bats will have a new chew toy!"

DemiDevimon scowled with frustration before fluttering away. "Yes sir…"

Yumi found herself slipping further and further into a bad depression. She failed to locate her partner in the time frame she gave herself. Not only that, the words that everyone spoke to her soon became a permanent reminder.

"Perhaps they are right, perhaps I shouldn't have come. That's why my partner doesn't want to find me," Yumi sighed resting her head on her knees. "I just thought maybe they were all wrong that I could prove that I was worth something."

It would have broken Wizardmon's heart hearing those words coming from her lips. Yumi could not understand after so many times of seeing the peach dot on her Digivice, it could just disappear without a trace. What she didn't realize was he couldn't escape any longer. That he was trapped under Myotismon's control.

'_Never think that way, you are stronger than that. Prove to not just yourself but to the others that you are stronger, and powerful,'_ a voice inside her head scolded.

"The voice of reason always seems to override everything. Hath thou finally decideth to show thy self? Perhaps it is wise to listen to the voice. It truly is better to stay strong then sit and mope and not do anything about it."

Looking out at her surrounding, Yumi got to her feet and made her way through the thicket of trees. She needed to take matters into her own hands.

Kisho frowned as the group made their way through the forest. "Hey - you guys?"

"Yeah Kisho?"

He sighed as he looked at the ground not wanting to believe any of the words he was about to utter. "If Yumi's so close by…why is she hiding from us?"

Mark sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Maybe she doesn't want to be found…or even worse, maybe she can't!"

"Perhaps she is not hiding at all, perhaps she is searching for something," Victoria responded glaring at Mark.

"It's like we are playing tag with her or something," Kiva sighed in frustration.

"Come on!" Robert looked at his Digivice again before running. "The signal leads this way!"

"Right!"

"Yu-mi!" yelled Victoria far a head of the group. "Where are you?"

The afternoon wore on as everyone continued to run through the forest, chasing after an ever moving purple dot. Victoria, Renamon, Kiva, Puppymon, Yukito, Penguinmon, Kisho and Labramon were still determined to be reunited with the headstrong girl while the others desperately tried to keep up.

"Ugh…" James' whine echoed through the dense trees. "It's getting dark. She could be anywhere. Why don't we find a spot to rest for the night? Or better yet, the next couple of weeks! My feet and every other part of me hurt…"

"I don't think I can go another step…" groaned Tora.

"We cannot give up now!" Victoria snapped turning around after slowing down to face the others.

"Wait a sec…" Yukito stared at his Digivice in confusion. "I'm getting another reading."

"Really? Of what?" Kota and Ember asked, something in their voices sounded anxious to hear the news.

Renamon turned around, her ears twitching to the sound of wings streaking through the air. He paws resting on her partners shoulders. Victoria felt the tension from the paws and turned her head to the sky, her face draining of all blood. "Guys! Get down - NOW!" both partners screamed.

"Wha- Oof!" groaned Kiva as Kota slammed her into the ground just as something with the speed of a small missile slammed right next to the group, leaving a smoking crater.

Her eyes widened at the sight as Puppymon raised his head from underneath the two humans. "Holy shit!"

Labramon and Bearmon whimpered as both clasped their paws over their ears. "That buzzing! What's that buzzing?"

Renamon snarled in agony, circling as if trying to get rid of the horrible high-pitched whine that was now filling everyone's ears. "Make it stop!"

"What IS that sound?" Tora groaned as it got more intense dropping to her knees pulling Lalamon close to her, protecting her.

Just then, a bee-like Digimon burst out of the trees behind them and swooped at the nine humans and eight Digimon, its stinger pointing right at Robert.

"MOVE!" ordered Yukito pushing Robert to the side, arms wrapped around him protectively.

"Flymon!" Gaomon yelped.

Flymon hissed angrily again at the miss. "Brown Stinger!"

"Look out guys!" Mark yelled his eyes wide with fear as he grabbed Kisho and dodged to the left, barely avoiding another row of bombs.

"Robert, is NOW the time to be on your laptop?" Yukito yelped glaring at him as Robert bent down over it as Yukito used his body as a shield.

"Give me a minute! Maybe this Digimon Analyzed Gennai gave me can help…" his fingers typed away at the keyboard. "Got it! His name is Flymon, a virus insect-type. It's pretty obvious to know what his attack is and it certainly is not friendly."

Renamon grabbed hold of Victoria's arm and yanked her away just in time from being hit. "Move it Tori!" wasting no time, Victoria was easily pushed to the ground, Renamon right next to her. "We are close to Yumi; we have to get to her. Let's move!"

"But the others…"

"Will be fine…come on!" Renamon pulled Victoria into the thick forest and made their way toward the purple dot. Victoria regretted leaving Kiva and Kota but this was important.

"Bear Claw!"

"Rolling Upper!"

"Electro Shocker!"

Kota and Kiva glared at the Flymon, if bees could grin, both could have sworn he was smirking as he easily dodged all their attack and dove back for another try.

"OH MY GOD!" Tora shrieked, half-leaping into James' arms as another stinger exploded right by her feet, causing James to blush scarlet.

Mark snarled in frustration as he watched his Digimon to go flying toward the trees. "It's not working, they need more help!"

"Puppy Claw!" Puppymon spat, jumping at the nearest Flymon aiming at his partner and Kota, claws glowing silver and scratched deeply into them.

"Ice Prism!" hollered Penguinmon as ice shot from his beak.

Even with the ice blast it was no good, the Flymon easily dodged all the attacks. "Brown Stringer!"

Kiva and Kota dropped their jaws at the sight; the two were frozen in shock not noticing the oncoming stinger, or the disappearance of Victoria and Renamon.

"Kiva, Kota! Get out of there!" yelled Puppymon as light cascaded over his body making him Digivolve into his Champion form.

"Wolf Blast!" A silvery-white like flame from his mouth aiming directly at the stinger and Flymon.

"Where did Victoria and Renamon go?" James asked noticing the missing girls.

"They ran off? Seriously, in the middle of a fight?" Kiva seethed.

There was an angry roar like a furious fox somewhere through the thicket of trees. "Fox tail inferno!"

"What the?" Kota yelped as small fireballs with ghostly faces on them hit the Flymon head on. The Flymon screamed before their data was slowly destroyed.

Kiva and Kota whirled to the right just in time to see a yellow fox nine tails run back into the forest. "She didn't leave us completely," Kiva whispered.

"Kyubimon?!" Kisho gasped not understanding.

"Victoria and Kyubimon must have located Yumi!" Yukito exclaimed. He turned slightly just in time to see a blur of black hair and purple streaks run off ahead. "Victoria! Wait!"

"Yukito, wait up!" yelled Kiva running after him with Wolfmon running next to her.

"Kiva, wait for me!" Kota exclaimed right behind her.

"I'm coming with you!"

Yumi panted heavily as she kept running through the forest. Her feet slamming against the groaned as she desperately tried to keep her distance from the others. She had an odd feeling that Victoria was right behind her. She couldn't get her friend's look of shock out of her head. It if wasn't bad enough, Kiva was going to be furious with her.

Taking a giant leap right across the stream, Yumi continued to run through the forest not wanting to see her friend's just yet. "It's not time yet, I can't speak with them yet."

Victoria felt her feet pounded against the dirt floor as she chased after her friend not wanting to give up. What she didn't realized what that Yukito, Kiva and Kota were somewhere behind her keeping up with her pace. All the while Victoria knew Yumi; she never figured how fast she could actually run. Apparently there were times when there was a massive reason for her to run.

"Victoria, hold up!" Kiva yelled finally catching up to Victoria, who by this time slowed down, her breathing heavily.

Turning around, Victoria gave her friend an apologetic look as Yukito, Kiva and Kota got off Wolfmon's back. "Sorry we took off like that, Yumi was close by and we didn't want to lose her."

"We seriously thought you abandoned us. Good to see you didn't."

"We couldn't leave you guys like that."

"Any sign of them?" Kiva asked.

"We did but we lost her," Victoria admitted a little defeated.

Wolfmon sniffed the air hoping to get a scent of the stubborn girl. Kota couldn't help but look at them and questioning their determination at finding this girl.

"So, who exactly is this Yumi girl anyway?" Kota asked leaning against the tree, arms crossed in front of him.

"Yumi has been a friend of ours since we were young."

"Does she really want to be found?"

"Yes…I think. She had so much going on with her; it's hard to figure out exactly what she truly wants. She keeps things pretty well bottled up."

"Not a real great friend for that is she?"

"Don't say that Kota, we all have things we've all kept hidden from one another," Victoria defended.

"Okay, sorry, but I stand by what I've said."

"If you are done fighting, I've located her scent, she isn't that far away. Renamon and I will go up ahead to cut her off while you three keep following her," Puppymon suggested, after dedigivolving, nodding to Renamon.

Kiva, Victoria, Kota and Yukito nodded their heads to each other while the two digimon ran off through the forest hoping to catch up with Yumi. As for the humans, their speeds picked up tracking Yumi on their Digivices.

It was some time later, Renamon leapt in front of Yumi from the bushes blocking her path. Gasping, Yumi took a step back ready to take off on a run the opposite way, only to find Puppymon behind her.

Victoria was gasping as she skidded to a halt behind Renamon, in utter shock to finally see her friend. Her eyes widened at the disbelief of her standing before her. "It really is you…Yumi, we've been looking everywhere for you."

She spun around ready to bolt past Puppymon but froze when she saw Yukito, Kiva and Kota standing there. She felt completely trapped, there was no where to escape. In her heart she fought the idea of wanting to escape and simply stay with the group. How could she truly explain to the group her failure?

"Yumi, why are you running away?" Victoria asked.

There was no explanation she could give any of them. She had no proof that her Digimon was nearby or that she really wanted to return. Her eyes widened when Kiva stepped in front of her and slapped her across the face leaving a nice red mark on her cheek. Yumi didn't wince, cry out or demand to know why she did it.

"I deserved that, didn't I?" Yumi said.

"Yes you did, and you pull that stunt again, I swear I'll hit harder," Kiva vowed.

"Point taken."

"Yumi," Kisho said timidly. "Does this mean you don't like us any more?" Kisho had arrived just before Kiva slapped Yumi and didn't know if anything was going to happen.

"Of course not Kisho! That's not it at all…well…for the most part," Yumi sighed.

"Then what's wrong?"

Yumi just took a deep hesitating breath and sighed knowing she couldn't lie to them any longer. "It was the night I decided to leave camp and look for Victoria. Kiva, I am so sorry for leaving you behind, I needed to do this on my own. I wanted to find my Digimon on my own. I felt like I was being help back with the others. As soon as I left and started my search, I gave myself a time frame to locate my Digimon. Sadly, I couldn't locate him; I think I might just be destined NOT to have one. Anyway, after some time, I came across this strange looking Digimon and he was talking to something in a giant bubble. He looked like a bowling ball with wings and he was telling the…thing about our Crests."

"Could you hear what they were saying exactly?" Victoria asked. "What about our Crests?" Victoria grasped on to her own Crest protectively.

"He was saying that…each Crest has its own special meaning…Victoria, yours is the Crest of Balance."

She gazed down at it. "Crest of Balance, hmm. That actually makes sense…it actually suits us."

"Kiva is the Crest of Silence." Kiva merely nodded in agreement.

"Yukito's, yours is the Crest of Enlightenment." Yukito had a look of amazement on his face.

"And mine?" Kisho asked excitedly.

"Yours is very special Kisho. It's called the Crest of Harmony."

Kisho's eyes brightened right up at the name. "That is incredible."

"Robert's Crest is the Crest of Faith, Tora is Compassion, James has the Crest of Sacrifice, Mark as the Crest of Ambition…And mine…mine is the Crest of Wisdom."

"You are filled with Wisdom Yumi, don't doubt yourself," Victoria said.

Yumi didn't seem overly enthused about her Crest. "It's nothing like me Tori!" Yumi snapped annoyed, eyes blazing. "What wisdom do I have? Huh?"

"Yumi, chill girl, you are getting a head of yourself. You've been getting yourself all stressed out that you don't see it," Victoria reassured.

"You don't know that."

"What is going on? I've never seen you like this before!"

"I've been under so much stress lately and the face that I never will have a Digimon has taken a lot out of me."

'_Stop bitching and know that he is worried sick about you,'_ Kota thought bitterly.

Yumi ran her hands through her hair as she slipped down the tree to sit on the ground; she felt her entire body just give up on her. Victoria, Yukito and Kiva let out a sigh of relief knowing that Yumi would no longer run and they could all just catch their breath.

Kisho walked up to Yumi and wrapped his arms around Yumi's shoulders. He knew how much Yumi was hurting and that she has been through so much the entire time they have been in the Digital World. It wasn't to say that Kiva, Victoria and Yukito didn't realize it either, all of them knew and found ways to help Yumi the entire time.

"I've missed you while you have been gone, it hasn't been the same since you left the group," Kisho admitted. He could feel Yumi wrap her arms around him hugging him back now. "I also want to thank you. You stopped Victoria and me from eating those mushrooms DemiDevimon gave us by warning Renamon, Ember and Johnny."

Yumi made a strained sound in the back of her throat as she help back her tears. Swallowing, she tightened her grip on the young boy.

"Please don't leave again," Kisho pleaded. He pulled back from the hug and unhooked the wolf pendant. "Here, you deserve this back. It has helped me out so much; you need it back so it can help you out again."

"Oh Kisho, you really want to see me in tears I swear," Yumi chocked out a laugh.

Kisho placed the necklace around her neck again and wrapped his arms around her and continued to hug her. Yumi couldn't believe that Kisho was giving her hugs like this.

"You mean a lot to this team, if not our group. You are our leader, please don't forget that," Yukito announced.

"Means so much to me," Yumi replied wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

"Hey, what did we miss?" called out Robert running up to them with Mark, James and Tora behind him.

"What took you guys so long?"

"Would have been here sooner if we didn't have to wait for James and Tora."

"No comment."

"Come on, let's get back to camp, we could all use some rest after today," Victoria suggested.

"I agree, besides I think Yumi could desperately use the rest," Yukito agreed helping her to her feet and noticing the tears in her clothes.

"Thanks Yukito," Yumi smiled.

As much as Tora and the others complained about back tracking already, it was good to be heading back to camp. A tired Kisho rested on Yumi's back as she carried him back to the camp without any fights as she ignored her own pain.

DemiDevimon grinned as the group made their way back to the group. "Hehe, this is perfect, all back together again, and as a bonus, Kota is with them."

"Perfect, they are heading into the valley," Kudamon smirked as she spied on the camp with him. "Nowhere for them to run now."

Phantomon smiled sickly in the darkness as his eyes and scythe shone in the light giving off an eerie feeling.

"Victoria, you wouldn't perhaps have any change of clothes on you, would you? Most of mine are torn and still bloody," Yumi asked picking at her torn red and black top. The group was finally back at the camp sitting around the roaring fire. Kisho was still sleeping soundly next to Labramon close to the entrance of the cave.

"You know I do," smiled Victoria picking up her bag. Yumi let out a sigh of relief. "It's one of the outfits you left at my house a while back."

"Don't you mean my emergency clothes in case I stay over?"

"That too."

Yumi grabbed the bag and took it into the cave to the far back hidden from sight of the others. In her other hand she carried a burning candle to give her the much needed light. Slipping out of her torn clothes, she took out the new outfit from the bag and slipped them on. It was a three piece outfit; the top was a red midriff top with a see through, long sleeve, mesh floral top. The bottom was a black pencil style, ankle length skirt with a mesh over top. The shoes were a simple black slip on.

It was good to be in something new after so long. Her last outfit had a fair collection of holes and blood stains due to fights fight Digimon, running through the forest and dealing with branches. If they could ever get home she needed to patch everything up. It was a hidden talent she possessed since being a little girl. Where most learned from their mother's, it was Akima, Victoria's mom, to teach her. Stashing the clothes into her own bag, Yumi returned to the group and sat next to Victoria and Kiva. Renamon and Puppymon were on either side of their partners.

"Feeling weird about being back in the group?"

"You have no idea," Yumi replied. "I don't mean I'm not happy to be back, it's just been a lot going on."

"Did you find what you were looking for?" James asked. Yumi only response to it was a glare of death. James swallowed nervously as he slowly raised his hands in surrender.

"Was it worth it in the end to just split from the group then?" Mark asked.

"Honestly? It was, to get away from all the bullshit, arrogance…" Yumi ranted before Renamon smacked her upside the head. "Whoa…again with the hitting," yelped Yumi.

"You've had time to breathe and had your time apart from everyone, learn to deal with it. Mark, seriously, you need to stop acting like an ass. We are all back together, be grateful for that!" snapped Renamon.

Mark just closed his mouth not in the mood to deal with the fox's anger at the moment. Yumi knew just to keep quiet after Renamon spoke; there was truth that came from her.

"Right now, what I want to know is why are Ember and Johnny here?" Yumi asked as Ember and Johnny finally joined the group.

"Victoria asked us to come here. When the portal open, Victoria asked us to join her, Youngblood is currently watching over Dani," Ember replied.

Yumi raised an eyebrow at the last piece of news. "You…left Youngblood…Youngblood…the mischievous one…to watch Dani?"

"Yeah, those were and still are my thoughts to this day."

"Okay, that could prove interesting. Now that we got that out of the way…whose the kid?" Yumi pointed to Kota.

"The kid has a name you know. I'm Kota, Kiva's friend since we were little."

"Oh, lovely to have known sooner."

"Well, you never asked, so I didn't tell," Kiva simply stated making everyone stare in dumbstruck at Kiva's comment.

"So my bad for not asking. Didn't seem to cross my mind."

"Whoa, before we have another fight, can we drop the subject," Puppymon quickly jumped in.

"Fine. Done."

"Um…not trying to stare or be overly creep out, I know his eyes are already red, but…uh…are they suppose to be glowing blood red?" Tora asked noticing the change in Kota's eyes.

Kiva turned her attention to her friend to see the change in eye colour. "When did you last feed?"

"Quite a long time ago."

"You need to feed then, your body needs the energy."

"I'm not going to feed."

"Take my blood, I trust you," Kiva offered.

Kota looked at his childhood friend gulping feeling reluctant. "Are you sure?" Kiva just looked at him with a look in her eyes that told him she was sure. Kota just nodded his, still uneasy, got to his feet and stood behind her. Kiva moved her hair to her other shoulder exposing her neck to him. Kota licked the small dip of her neck and shoulder, the saliva acting as a numbing agent making it hurt less to their prey. His fangs grew longer before sinking into the flesh.

Puppymon, who was sitting at Kiva's feet, felt uneasy about being near the boy vampire. He moved closer to Renamon, feeling secure with her and sat at her feet. His eyes never left Kota as he continued his feeling.

Yumi turned her attention to Victoria to give Kota some privacy. While she had never dealt with a vampire before, she knew the feeding habits and that some preferred their own privacy while eating. Although she has seen her share of vampire movies and lycan movies, she usually never agreed with them due to their inaccuracies. That didn't mean she still didn't enjoy anything by Anne Rice or the Underworld movies. Victoria, however, had a tendency to look at the child in wonder. She had a complete fascination with the vampire outlook as well as any other paranormal outlooks. She was obviously use to Yumi and her traditions and knew that she only fed or hunted when it was necessary. The summer before last, Yumi invited her to join her to visit her family and got to experience Yumi's father's side.

As for the others, all of them started to talk amongst each other, thinking that Kiva and Kota couldn't hear them. The rest weren't as accepting of the feedings as Yumi or Victoria was or the ghosts for that matter. This wasn't just strange it was not normal.

Mark couldn't help but whisper. "I think he is going to drain her dry the way he is feeding."

A few of them were really grossed out by the sight of it but couldn't take their eyes of the scene. "I want to look away, but I can't," Tora said in a hush voice.

"This seems very strange in the long run," Robert said.

Kiva rolled her eyes hearing the conversations. "You know we can hear you."

That got the conversations to stop in a heartbeat; only Yumi and Victoria continued theirs due to them not being overly concerned by the feeding, although Victoria usually did bring up the odd question about the difference of feeding styles.

Kota finished a few minutes later, licking the area again clearing the redness completely. The glowing look slowing disappeared as he let the blood settle. He remained behind Kiva for a moment or two making sure she didn't pass out completely.

**Kota: You okay? **-He signed sitting next to her looking into her eyes making sure she was still focused.

**Kiva: Never better.**

"He's a vampire? Wh…"

"I wasn't going to tell he was a vampire. That was something he would have told on his own."

"No fighting, seriously!" warned Renamon. The group settled down, the questions soon leaving their minds and leaving it at that.

Yumi stood up from her spot stretching her arms far above her head. Victoria raised an eyebrow at where Yumi was going. Yumi herself noticed the looks and shook her head. "I just needed to stretch my…CRAP!"

"Shadow Scythe!"

"What the hell?" Bearmon yelped jumping back as the others moved to a safer location. The giant slash that was created in the ground still steamed with energy.

Kota's eyes widened in horror and disbelief at the face of the same Digimon, who had been his tormentor for so many years as well as his captors, smirk cruelly at him.

"Well, well, well," Phantomon chuckled airily. "So, this is where you have been hiding out."

Kota's eyes widened with shock as he gulped moving behind Kiva in fear. "No…" he muttered softly under his breath trying his hardest to not show fear.

Puppymon let out a growl of anger as he stood protectively in front of Kiva and Kota. Renamon also moved in front of the two as Victoria and Yumi stood on either side, hands balled up in fists, a look of fury in their eyes.

"Don't think you'll be safe hiding behind them!" Phantomon chuckled darkly.

Kiva clenched her fists in anger and glared at Phantomon. "What are you doing here?"

"Drag him back to the dungeons where he belongs. IF I don't kill him first." His eyes moved to Yumi, a shiver ran down her spine as he ran his fingers down his scythe. "And, as a bonus, I figured I'd just…finish the job of ending HER LIFE!"

Yumi physically turned pale as her entire body shook in absolute horror. For once, the idea of her life ending by a promise seemed to be coming true. With the fear overpowering her, she soon lost all her courage, strength and determination.

"Yumi, snap out of it!" yelled Kiva.

"Shadow Scythe!"

Yumi's eyes widened as a scream escaped her, everything moved far too fast for her to actually react. Yukito, who was close enough to her and could move quickly, dived at her, pushing her to the ground, their bodies skidding over the dirt. His arms around her shoulders keeping her fully protected. Her eyes were shut tightly as she breathed heavily.

"I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead. I died. I'm dead!" Yumi repeated scared stiff.

"Hey, open your eyes, you're okay," Yukito reassured.

Yumi slowly opened her eyes, finally coming to realization of the pressure on top of her. "Yukito…you saved me…thank you."

"You'll never EVER go near either of them!" growled Puppymon.

Phantomon smiled cruelly. "Oh…brave words from such weakling Digimon."

"Oh yeah? Get him Renamon!" shouted Victoria.

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Phantomon grinned wickedly. "Ah…perhaps this will prove more of a challenge."

Kota stepped out of Kiva's shadow, blood red eyes blazing. "Get out of here, Casper reject!"

For once he looked taken aback for a bit and his eyes narrowed. "Oh really? You dare try and defy me?""

Kiva grabbed hold of Kota keeping him back before he rushed forward. "You bet your ass I will!"

He clenched his teeth but ended up smirking instead. "So that's how it is…Shadow Scythe!"

"Agh!" Kyubimon howled in pain as the attack caught her off guard and slashed her across the side.

"KYUBIMON!" Victoria yelled, eyes widened in horror.

"Shit…" Mark muttered, taking a step back. "That's one strong Ultimate."

Kiva clenched her teeth and grasped for her crest. "Fine! If that's the case, we'll just have to get stronger! Digivo- ACK!"

"KIVA!" Kota, Victoria and Yumi screamed eyes widened in horror as Phantomon lifted Kiva up by the neck, half choking her.

"So, you're the one responsible for his escape," Phantomon murmured, lifting his scythe so it was pressed lightly against Kiva's neck, as he glared at Kota, who was between Yumi and Victoria.

Kota's eyes widened in fear. "Put her down-NOW!"

He merely smirked as Kiva choked, her face starting to turn blue. "I look forward to seeing the look on Kota's face when he sees you dead!"

"NO!"

"KIVA! Let my partner go!" growled Wolfmon dangerously.

"No! No…please!"

"Release her!" demanded Victoria.

Phantomon smirked as he kept his eyes on Kota. "I'm sorry, is this yours?"

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

The newly evolved wolf-Digimon howled as he pounced with claws bared. "Dash Double Claw!"

With a cackle, Phantomon easily swooped out of the way. "Oh, too slow!"

"Fox tail inferno!" Kyubimon spat, sending out the ghost like fireballs at him.

"Argh!" Phantomon snarled as the flames covered his body narrowly missing Kiva.

"Labramon go!" Kisho yelled waking up.

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!" The large Doberman-Digimon leapt at Phantomon swiping across his face with the sharp claws leaving deep scarring gashes.

"Phantomon," Kota snarled as the courage returned to him. "I am NOT fooling around! Let him down this instant. Or I swear to Yggdrasil I'll- "You'll what?" his tone was soft and menacing as he cut Kota off glaring at him.

"NOW WOLFMON!"

Phantomon turned to see the giant wolf pounce at him, jaw open. "…Oh dear- ACK!" Wolfmon roared as he slashed at him teeth and claws bared.

Kiva flailed as she was dropped from his grip, only to be caught by Yumi, Victoria and Kota who all fell back on to the ground. "Oof!"

Wolfmon opened his mouth wide as a silver-white flame began to form. "Wolf Blast!" he spat.

"Awesome shot!" Ember shouted, grinning ear to ear.

Kiva struggled to her feet along with her friends, all eyes blazing with fury. "No on and I mean NO ONE, takes advantage of me! NOW!"

"Dragon Wheel!"

"Wolf Blast!"

"Growl Realm!"

"Dash Double Claw!"

All four attacks combined into one before slamming into Phantomon as one giant fireball. "GACK!" The force slammed Phantomon into the ground as he skidded wildly backwards leaving a giant smoking gash in the ground. "Ugh!" He glared up at Kota as he strolled over to him livid then ever, blood red eyes narrowed matching Phantomon's equally narrowed slit eyes. "Don't think that you are safe. As soon as Myotismon finds out…"

Kota refused to say anything as he continued to glare at him; only a small flinch could be seen by the train eye. Phantomon of course didn't miss it, he smirked at him. "Oh…scared now aren't you?"

"Like hell I am," Kota seethed, baring his own fangs at him. "Please, I harbour no fear of him."

Phantomon chuckled slightly as he rose to the sky. "Yes…I wouldn't want to be you, runt."

"Leave him alone!" Kiva sneered as she ran up to him standing protectively beside him and glaring furiously at Phantomon.

Phantomon snickered. "Oh, I'm not the one he should be scared of…not by a long shot!"

Kiva wrapped an arm around Kota's shoulder as Phantomon flew away, still laughing. She could see the fuming continuing in the small child. "Are you going to be all right?"

"I'll be fine," he seethed.

Phantomon muttered dark curses under his breath as he drifted back to the castle. The cold, icy wind was cutting into the deep claw marks across his back and chest, making them sting even more.

"I'll murder those forsaken Digimon!" he snarled softly under his breath. The great doors of the castle loomed in front of him, dark and menacing. He pressed one of his ghostly hands against the door and it lit up at his touch before slowly opening.

"Well?" Kudamon demanded, as she sat in the door way. "Did you finish off that girl? I assume you didn't get the boy."

"No!" Phantomon snapped as he floated inside, glaring down at her in challenge to pick a fight.

She strolled behind him, disgust in her eyes. "Are you kidding me? How hard can it be to kill a Digimon-less child, or better yet, a bunch of whiny kids? When Lord Myotismon finds out ab- "I COULD have killed them off or brought back the boy if those brats weren't protecting him."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is I had that brat Kiva in my grasp…" he growled. "They are far too close to each other."

Kudamon hissed angrily. "That brat, does he truly think that he is going to be safe with them for long?"

"Grr…" The two of them turned around to see one of the Bakemon floating there.

"What is it?" Myotismon snapped irritably.

"Lord Myotismon requests your presence…now!"

Myotismon smirked as he held up a goblet of what looked like thick red liquid, admiring the light shining on it, glinting eerily. "Ah…I love the smell of blood in the morning," he murmured, raising it to his lips.

Just before the liquid touched his lips, someone knocked on the door. "Master?"

He rolled his eyes in contempt lowering the goblet. "Come in."

Kudamon and Phantomon walked in, both expressionless, Phantomon in no mood to explain his appearance at the time being. "You requested our presence?" Kudamon bowed.

"What news have you found out?" he asked in annoyance glaring at them.

"We have located Kota, my Lord, he is currently with the Digidestineds," Phantomon answered.

"WHAT?!" Myotismon roared, the glass he was holding starting to form cracks in its side. "Why weren't you able to bring him back?"

"He was well protected."

The goblet shattered and the liquid dripped down his fist and desk.

Kota sighed contently as he lay on the damp grass as the moon shone down on him. "Finally, things are going great," he sighed happily. He was back with his childhood friend, he felt safe and happy. Kiva had been lying right next to him, a grin, only reserved for him, filled her face at the knowledge that her friend was safe once more.

A cold breeze flickered through the trees shaking the branches creating a creepy, whispering sound that sent shivers down his spine. Kota slowly sat up, an uneasy feeling filling him. Something didn't feel right. His shoulders stiffened as he felt somebody's eyes watching him. "H-hello?"

No answer. "Kiva? Puppymon?" This isn't funny."

"Hello there my dear child."

Kota felt his heart drop at the sound of the voice. Spinning around, Kota had to ease a racing heart that threatened to jump out of his chest as he fought back absolute panic. Myotismon was standing there, arms crossed over his chest, behind him, a slight smile on his face.

"So, this is where you ran off too," Myotismon sneered.

"I…uh…I…"

"Why don't you be a good boy and come back with me. NOW!"

"I will never come back with you! Ever!" "That wasn't the answer I was looking for," he replied softly, fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

Kota stepped back with a snarl. "Go to the Dark Area for all I care! I will NEVER go back to that hell hole!"

Myotismon's eyes narrowed down to slits. "You really don't want to be on my bad side."

"I'm past caring. You don't scare me!"

"Oh really? You know I could kill that human of yours!"

Kota stiffened as everything went cold. "Leave Kiva out of this!"

Myotismon hissed angrily, curling his lips back to show his fangs more. "Continue, and you'll find yourself lying in a pool of your own blood!"

Kota growled at him, his fists clenched in anger as his own fangs grew longer. "If you hurt ANY of the Digidestined, so Yggdrasil help m- "You really think you can stop me from doing whatever I want? Crimson Lightning!"

Kota let out a yelp as the whip wrapped around his left ankle and tossed him in the air. He landed with a hard smack, right on his back, the air escaping him. Myotismon smirked. "I'm sorry, you were saying."

Kota growled as he leapt back on to his feet, wincing slightly. He kept his eyes on him, challenging him to just try that again. "IF you hurt any of them," his voice went low with fury. "I don't care how long it takes me. I WILL make you pay for it!"

Myotismon made a scoffing noise. "Please. You're too weak to even lay a finger on me."

Vampire and vampire glared at each other for some time, Kota refused to back down. Myotismon's mouth curled in a sadistic, deadly smile, seeing a small falter in the boy. "Hmm. Perhaps I should rethink keeping you alive then," he said softly, his voice like ice.

Kota let out a growl as his eyes began to glow again, this time to an orange colour. He was determined to show him just how strong he was. "You-can-TRY!" Kota lunged at him, fury filling him. Myotismon just sneered before disappearing into the shadows. Kota swore loudly skidding to a halt. "Come back here you COWARD!"

"Nightmare Claw!"

Kota let out a blood curdling scream at the attack blasted him backwards, the agonizing pain seemed to rip through his chest as he felt every last bit of strength die as everything went black.

**A/N: Holy, intense chapter, don't you agree? I want to bring one thing up, the Crests that I have in this chapter are the actual right ones compared to a few chapters back. Poor Kota, he felt so safe in the group but now he is back in Myotismon's grasp. I have to admit too, while writing this chapter up, my friend had a picture of Lucemon sitting on Myotismon's lap and I seriously envisioned Kota as Lucemon…yeah…I'm sorry to put that image into your minds.**

**Yumi: I feel better that I am back in the group, but really? You had to send him off?**

**Me: I wanted to do a twist. I am so evil.**

**Ember: So another rescue?**

**Me: You know it.**


	38. Protection of friends

**A/N: A big thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, the Night's Oath and Black Prism of Certain Doom for your fabulous reviews on the two chapters. And yes I will admit that I am evil for Myotismon kidnapping Kota. I'm also warning all of you right now, it's going to be a little graphic at the beginning…-cough- not a little…a lot -cough-**

**Chapter 38**

**Protection of friends**

"Ugh…" Kota groaned as he stirred slightly. His head was still throbbing with a searing pain, the same feeling that would make a person not want to open their eyes without throwing up. The darkness behind his eyes seemed to be a safe motive at the moment.

"Kiva?" he called out shakily.

There was no response.

What feared him the most was the coldness underneath him; it wasn't the dampness of the cool grass. No, it was an unwelcome, familiar cold stone feeling. At the moment, it appeared that nothing bound him, sadly that didn't mean he was alone. What he also realized too was he was lying on his stomach.

"Wha…where am I?"

All of a sudden it all came rushing back to him in one sickening flood of horrible memories as his eyes snapped open in a horrific moment. _'KIVA!'_ His heart raced in fear that she would be killed if Myotismon gets his hands on her. A horrible feeling came over him as he paused and sniffed the air. Bypassing the dampness, his face turned pale as he felt fear run through his body. "Oh no…"

Kota gulped, slowly pushing himself up into a seated position, his back to the cell door and twisted around to see Kudamon, Phantomon and DemiDevimon standing next to Myotismon. Myotismon's sapphire eyes narrowed down to slits as he took a step forward, making Kota cringe away.

"Surely you would not be so foolish as to risk SO much of my wrath?"

Kota glared up at him, although the fear was filling the red eyes, betraying his own strength. He could see Myotismon's fingertips twitched slightly; causing Kota to feel his shoulders shake, expecting to feel Crimson Lightning crash down on his back…any second. "I-I…" Kota stammered unsure of what to even say. He wasn't sure if anyone found out that Wizardmon was the one to help him escape or not.

"So…" Myotismon hissed as he looked into Kota's terrified eyes. "I can smell your fear and guilt."

Kota bit back a snarl as he heard Kudamon, Phantomon and DemiDevimon snickering cruelly in the background.

"I don't need to prove anything to you!" Kota spat. He snarled curses into the air in fury as he tried to cover his fear.

"Watch your mouth, you brat!" he replied dangerously, cape billowing behind him with each move. Kota refused to cease the curses. "Obviously it wasn't enough," he sneered.

Kota fought back a slight growl at him; his fear was greater than his pride. He refused to back down now; he needed to stay strong as possible.

"You know what this means, my pet," the smile on his face was now one of pure enjoyment at seeing Kota squirm. Oh, how he loathed the nickname Myotismon gave him. He cursed it even since day one of his capture. DemiDevimon positively howled with laughter as Kudamon and Phantomon grinned wickedly at his disdain.

In the background, Kota could see Wizardmon watching in the shadows fear and worry in his eyes. It wasn't as if he was spying on the group, or wanted to be there, he came by them while wandering the halls unaware of what was happening. He was careful not to be seen by Myotismon or Phantomon. He thought for sure Kota would have been safe with Kiva and the rest of the Digidestineds.

'_Help me!'_ he begged him with his eyes. Both knew he couldn't, it would have been suicide to interfere.

"Please no."

Myotismon just smirked as the red whip appeared in his hand as a cruel smile filed his face. Bile rose up in Kota's throat as he felt his stomach churn in absolute horror. A piercing scream of pain filled the cell as the whip seared through his flesh, slamming him back on to the ground.

Kota could hear Myotismon's chuckle at his pain over Kota's pounding head. Kota gritted his teeth, renewing a vow not to let Myotismon have the gratification of hearing his screams again. Or cry. Never cry. Kota squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the tears burn; he forced them back, the pain in the back feeling like fire trickling down his spine.

Myotismon just smirked cruelly as Kota lay weakly on the ground, the blood turning the grey stone a sickly shade of red. His nostrils flared slightly at the scent, Kota couldn't miss the look of slight greed and hunger appearing on his face.

Kota cringed backwards as much his body would allow. He WOULDN'T…would he? No…creeps were probably just trying to get a reaction out of him, scare him to death. Kota wasn't stupid, vampire or not, taking another vampire's blood could strength, and memories…things Kota did not need to share.

Kota gritted his teeth as another spasm of pain shot across his back, the dampness of the cell was not helping matters. He couldn't resist the opportunity to shoot him a glare through slit eyes.

Myotismon snarled angrily at the glare before Kota felt the whip lash across his shoulders. "Don't EVER look at me like that!"

Kota growled in disgust before turning his head away no longer able to bother looking at the older vampire's face. He could feel the fury rising up in himself. The desire to rebel…to shout, to scream at him to leave him alone, had never been this strong before.

"Nightmare Claw!" yelled Myotismon sending out the attack slamming Kota into the wall.

"AHHHH!" Kota yelled, a sickening thud resounding against the stone wall.

"Clever my pet. But not nearly clever enough," Myotismon sneered almost as if he heard his thoughts.

"Fuck you! I'm not your god damn pet! I never will! You can't do anything more to me!" groaned Kota forcing himself off the floor to his feet.

Myotismon's eyes narrowed. "Oh, you think so do you? Crimson Lightning!"

Kota couldn't help letting out a shriek as the attack lashed out across his back again. It felt like being struck by a fiery whip as blood ran down his back.

"Get the picture?"

Kota glared at him but let out a slight whimper in place of a growl as he felt the warm liquid of blood start to trickle down his back.

"If you want to keep yourself from the feeling of getting your back ripped open…" he hissed, looking down at Kota. "I suggest you loose the attitude _pet_!"

Kota let out a hiss as he got on to his knees still not backing down. He struggled to his feet, legs shaking uncontrollably.

"Let me make this clear, if I wasn't clear before - Crimson Lightning!"

Kota let out a blood curdling scream as the whip connected with his stomach, it forced Kota to knees once more in agonizing pain.

"That's better," Myotismon chuckled. Kota growled as he pressed a hand to his bleeding wound, a red stain quickly spreading across his already torn shirt. The defiance still remained in the child's eyes regardless of the pain.

"It appears I haven't been hard enough on you," Myotismon drawled coldly.

"Uh…no, I think you've got the whole punishment thing covered to be honest," Kota coughed.

"Silence! Crimson Lightning!"

Kota screamed bloody murder as the whip wrapped around his torso and slammed him into the wall, his blood staining it scarlet red. He snarled as he slid down the wall spitting up blood, forcing himself not to fall to his knees again. "You…"

Myotismon's eyes just narrowed. "I don't think you want to continue that my pet."

Kota just glared at him with ruby eyes. "Coward!" he rasped out.

"What was that?"

"You heard me!"

Myotismon snarled, his fangs gleaming in the fire light. "You will pay for your insolence!"

A dark sphere of energy formed in his right hand, Kota's mouth opened in a soundless scream as he blasted him in the shoulder with it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said mockingly. "Did that hurt?"

Kota clenched his teeth and clutched at his shoulder in silence. "Fuck you!"

"I couldn't use that tone if I were you," Myotismon hissed before smirking as he looked at his back. "Aw…poor thing," he said in a mocking tone.

Kota just cringed away from him for a moment as he desperately tried to ease his racing heart and excruciating pain. His eyes glimmered a bloody red as his fangs grew. "You will never break me!" He raised his now sparking hand.

Myotismon smiled slightly at the attempt of the child to scare him with his fangs or revert him to his fresh form. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." His voice lowered dangerously as Kudamon and DemiDevimon were shooting Kota looks of disbelief.

The next thing Kota knew was the burning, agonizing pain as the whip wrapped around him before tossing him in the air. Kota couldn't help the high pitch scream of agony that escaped his lips at the attack not only burning into his flesh but reopening so many of his other scars on his body.

"GACK!" he snarled as he was slammed into the ground at full force. He could hear his ribs snap at the impact.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear."

Wizardmon winced from the shadows as he felt his heart sink at the punishment Myotismon was giving Kota. All the while the boy refused to yell stop. He no longer could move from his spot, fear froze him stiff. He wanted so desperately to run into the cell and protect the boy.

Kota groaned slightly and pressed a hand to his stomach. Blood was seeping from the wound at an alarming rate, turning his shirt a bright red.

Myotismon grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up slightly, like a disobedient kitten, he was hoisting up by the scruff.

"GET YOUR BLOODSTAINED HANDS OFF ME!" Kota shrieked thrashing wildly in Myotismon's grasp. He tightened his grip slightly around the child's throat. "Can't…breathe…" the boy gasped out. "Let…go…"

"Unless you want to go another round again, I suggest you stop struggling pet," he hissed dangerously.

"Get…off…" Kota muttered weakly struggling in vain.

His grip tightened even more, Kota coughed as it got even harder to breathe. Kota growled with frustration but his burning lungs begged for air.

"You think you're in agony now my pet?" Myotismon murmured softly to him. "I can do so much worse…and you know it."

Kota gritted his teeth mentally kicking himself for putting everyone he loved in danger. Myotismon touched the open wounds on Kota's back lightly with just his fingertips. It was just enough to make the boy shudder.

"And if you run away again, it'll be ten times worse! For you and for HER!" he sneered dropping him on the ground in a heap.

"Leave…Kiva…out of this!" Kota spat venomously before screaming as the whip lashed across his back for the tenth time or more.

"Think about your precious friend. You wouldn't want anything to…happen to her would you?"

"Leave Kiva OUT of this!"

"Aw, missing your girlfriend that much pet?" he asked mockingly.

"Shut up!"

"Don't worry. You'll be with me soon."

The tone in his voice sent a shiver down Kota's spine. "What are you talking about?"

Myotismon smiled lazily down at him, the look in his eyes sent a sickening feeling throughout Kota's body. "You think I was joking about killing you?"

Kota cringed backwards, pressing his torn back against the icy stone wall. Myotismon chuckled as he turned away from him. "Ta-at pet…I'll deal with you after I get rid of your friends."

"NO!" he shrieked, desperately trying to move forward, the open wounds sticking the wall in a sickening way, much like a bad burn after staying in the sun for too long. "Please Myotismon! I'll do whatever you want, I swear, just don't hurt them!"

"Too late for that!"

Kota growled as he slumped against the wall in too much agony. Myotismon smirked as a carriage drew up in the hallway behind them. Kota only just noticed that Phantomon was gone from the group as well as DemiDevimon. "This is what happens to traitors my dear," Myotismon smiled cruelly as he stepped into the carriage. "You know, blood tastes so much better with the taste of victory!"

"No, please!" Kota could feel the tears stream down his cheeks as his throat started to clog up; he needed to fight the burning feeling. "I swear I'll never try to run away again. I-I'll do whatever you ask, just don't hurt…please," Kota shook his head wanting to clear the tears away as he shot him another desperate, pleading look.

Myotismon rolled his eyes slightly. "Kudamon, go get SkullSatamon to watch over my little pet. He tries anything…ha…if he can, feel free to slit his throat."

"Yes Master," Kudamon bowed smirking at Kota before running off to fetch SkullSatamon.

Kota snarled, in anger, frustration and terror, as his cell door was shut and locked by as Phantomon slapped the reins as the Devidramon took off dragging the carriage behind them. Kota, for the time being was left alone.

Wizardmon stepped out of the shadows and came up to the cell doors. "Kota, my dear Kota."

"W…Wizardmon…" Kota wheezed.

"I am so sorry I could help you. We have to get you out of there!"

"No…Wizardmon -cough- Please…don't…blame…yourself. I don't want to have you risk your life for me. Besides -cough- I am certain that they'll figure it out if you helped me this time. But…but tell me…how did…how did you escape punishment? Did…they find out?" Kota wheezed too weak to even move to the door.

"No, no one knew. I…I think Kudamon has her suspicions," Wizardmon answered.

"This is not how I foreseen this," Kota replied gloomily.

"I understand that. I am sure you will be set free soon."

"How Wizardmon? It's impossible."

"Shh dear child, someone is coming, I give you my word."

Kota nodded his head as Wizardmon took off into the shadows once more. It wasn't long before the red skeleton Digimon appeared with a devious smile. "Well…well…well…look whose back."

"Leave me alone!"

Kiva slipped into a peaceful sleep as a small smile appeared on her face. She was curled up into a small ball next to Puppymon. It had been a crazy four days to say the least, she had Kota back in her life; Yumi was safe again in the group. Things truly were finally looking up.

Yukito was stretched out on ground with an arm wrapped around Robert's shoulder, which was curled up against Yukito. His head resting on his hands on top of Yukito's chest. Tentomon and Penguinmon were curled next to the boys.

Kisho was once again curled up into Victoria's body; Victoria had her arms wrapped around him protectively, head on his. He didn't want to even both to sleep by his brother; he still wasn't thrilled with him. Labramon was resting above Kisho's head, with Renamon lying between her partner and Yumi. Yumi, herself, was resting on her stomach lying on her arms.

Tora ended up using James' stomach as a pillow as he was stretched out legs on top of the other and arms behind his head. Bearmon was sleeping on the other side of James, while Lalamon slept on Tora's stomach. Mark was close to James and Tora resting with Gaomon.

In the trees above the Digidestined, DemiDevimon grinned evilly and cackled. "Finally! Sound asleep!" He smirked as he pulled out a large syringe with a giant cross and bones on it and silently fluttered towards them. "Myotismon will be so proud of my work, maybe I'll get a promotion!" He raised the dart and aimed it right at the sleeping Goth girl in front of him. Yumi, unbeknownst to her, unconsciously rolled to her side facing the bat.

What DemiDevimon didn't realize was there were four eyes upon him from the cave. Neither one was pleased to see their friends getting attacked while they were sleeping. Ember had to hold out her arm to stop Johnny; it wasn't like she wanted to see her friend get hurt, she wanted to see if anyone was going to wake up and notice the bowling ball with wings.

Renamon let out a yawn as she stretched her legs and arms out ready to switch to her side. Groaning, she blinked open her sapphire eyes slowly. The glint of the needle caused her to fully open her eyes in shock as the realization of danger upon them. She gasped when she saw DemiDevimon grinning wickedly just before he tossed the needle right at Yumi's chest.

"Yumi! Look out!"

"Demi Dart!"

"Huh?" Yumi blinked sitting up becoming an even easier target.

Growling, Renamon jumped at Yumi pushing her to the ground letting out a whine as the needle punctured her skin at the side. "Argh!"

"That does it!" Ember snarled standing up pinking up her guitar.

"Shit! Renamon!" Yumi shrieked, fully awake staring in shock at her friend's partner in fear. She rolled Renamon over gently as she took out the dart. "Wake up! Come on! Wake up!"

"Yumi?" Victoria asked sitting bolt up right, she accidentally hit Kisho in the process, who became wide awake. "What happened? Holy shit! Ren!"

Ember and Johnny were already at their sides kneeling next to Yumi and Renamon. Kisho's eyes widened when he noticed DemiDevimon floating about them. "DemiDevimon!" he shouted angrily. "How dare you show your face."

The bat Digimon gulped slightly as the rest of the Digimon all growled at him menacingly, teeth bared, ready to attack. The ghosts stood from their spot, Ember holding her guitar at the ready as Johnny's shadow got bigger.

"Uh…I'm out of here!" he yelped before fluttering away as fast as he could. This…wasn't exactly how he planned it. Ember, in her anger struck a cord on her guitar, sending out waves hitting him in the process.

"Get BACK here you coward!" Victoria screamed angrily, her concern for her partner was at its highest. In no way did she blame Yumi for what happened, Renamon felt obligated to protect both girls from danger.

As she went back to focus on her Digimon, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "What the?" An odd child was in the air, as if it had suddenly dripped below freezing. The once clear sky with the bright full moon was now covered in pitch black clouds.

"I don't like the look of this," breathed Yumi, raising her head noticing the sky, her hand still resting protectively over Renamon's side. Something seemed different by how things were moving; the clouds seemed to be moving towards them in an eerie way.

Kiva was the first to notice an odd shade in the sky making her eyes widened at the dark shadow. "A…carriage?"

"And I thought we've seen it all with the Elvis wannabe," scoffed Victoria.

Sure enough, a black carriage with gold trim appeared with Phantomon at the reins of two snarling Devidramon, their red eyes matching that of the red sky and moon.

"Holy crap," whispered Tora. "What is that?"

A black coffin dropped out of the back, the symbol of a gold bat glinting menacingly on the front. In mid fall, the coffin creaked open and a tall man with blonde hair and the most intense, twisted blue eyes Yumi had ever glanced upon, landed softly on the ground, his black cape wrapped around him and his fangs glinting in the moonlight as he smirked. Yumi couldn't take her eyes off him; it was as if she were in a trance. She knew that he was dangerous, but by the gods above, she saw beauty in him. Victoria noticed the look and immediately smacked her across the head.

"Ow!"

"You're drooling," she hissed.

"Just look at him."

"You're hopeless."

"Digidestined…" he chuckled. "Your journey ends here!"

"Right there!" Yumi pointed after shaking her head. "That's the one DemiDevimon was talking to!"

"Meet Lord Myotismon!" DemiDevimon cackled as he floated next to him.

"Myotismon…" Robert seemed in thought.

"That's LORD Myotismon!"

"That's who Kota spoke of and was holding him prisoner!" Robert shouted a little too loud for comfort.

"Wait…where is Kota?" Kiva gasped.

Myotismon merely chuckled. "Back in his cell once more."

Kiva let out a soft growl as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I swear I'll…"

Myotismon sneered. "These Digidestined are making me a little batty! Grisly Wing!" he opened his arms wide sending out a swarm of bats.

Victoria's eyes widened in fear at the swarm of bats swooped towards them, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. "Fuck!" was the only thing that escaped her mouth as she covered her face protectively as one of the bats swooped and slashed its talons across her cheek. Eyes narrowed, Victoria placed a finger to her cheek where the bat attacked and noticed blood cover her finger and continued to drip down.

Hundreds more swarmed around them, screeching angrily as they bit all of the Digidestined as they could. Yumi became more of a target as the others swiped at them to get them away, she kept her body over top of Renamon's, not wanting to get her attacked. Blood was sweeping through the mesh top and covering most of her back.

"Come on guys, we can't back down!" Labramon growled menacingly, furious that Yumi would lose a ton of blood. "Retri bark!" super sonic waves appeared as he did an intense bout of barking.

"Puppy Claws!"

"Super Shocker!"

"Ice Prism!"

Ember stood protectively over Yumi as the bats continued to attack the open girl. Yumi still refused to move from Renamon's side, even as Victoria did everything in her power to protect her. "They refuse to stay down!"

Tora let out a shriek as another bat swooped straight toward her face. "Nooo!"

"Tora!" Lalamon yelled as she spun around, eyes flashing in the usual calm Digimon. "Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

The giant sunflower-Digimon stood protectively in front of her partner. "Time to shed some light on to the group. Sunshine Beam!" Several of the bats screamed as the sunshine beam completely disintegrated from the sky into mere dust. Victoria, Yumi, Yukito and Ember's eyes dilated from the intense light.

"GAH! My eyes, my eyes!" Yumi yelled covering her eyes with her arm as she got blinded. **(A/N: I can seriously see some of the group wearing shades and doing a men in black moment there)**

"Awesome job!" Bearmon called to his friend. "Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Grizzly Claw!" he roared standing on his hind legs and sending out a blast, most of it aiming towards Myotismon.

He just smirked as the attack hit him right on and disappeared into a cloud of smoke obscuring their vision thinking they won.

"Wicked job buddy!" James shouted grinning proudly.

Ember knelt beside Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Yukito and Robert, who seemed to be worried with Renamon's condition.

"We have to get Kota back! The fact that Myotismon got his hands on him again makes me worried that something bad could happen," Kiva immediately said.

"We will, I promise," Ember vowed.

"I'll go back!" insisted Kiva.

"No, they need you here! Puppymon is one of the toughest digimon around that can handle this."

"But he's my friend!"

"I volunteer!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Are you out of your mind? Your digimon is in no condition to even budge and you are not going in there by yourself," argued Ember.

"Let me go!" Yumi demanded.

"That's suicide! They'll be expecting it!"

"Then what do you suggest?" Yukito asked.

"I'll go. I can quickly get there and get out. Besides, you are all needed here!"

"Ember has a point," Robert pointed out.

Renamon let out a soft whimper as she curled up even more than she had been doing. Victoria let out a choke sob trying to hold it together. "Stay strong my fox."

"Keep fighting, I'll be back. Oi, 13, watch over them!" yelled Ember before flying off into the night sky.

"Always am!"

The smiles that the other Digidestined had on their faces seemed to fade quickly into looks of shock and horror as Myotismon simply chuckled, floating above the smoke, completely unharmed. "You can't defeat me that easily!" he chuckled as the red whip formed in his hand. "Crimson Lightning!"

All of the Digimon and Johnny screamed as the whip struck and sent them flying backwards.

"No! You have to get up!" Tora desperately yelled running to Sunflowmon's side.

"I need to help them," Renamon whimpered as a wave of shivering struck.

"Shh…don't move. You need to rest," Victoria soothed running her hand down her partner's side.

Ember could still hear the fighting and the shouts as she continued to fly to the castle. She felt sick to her stomach for leaving and what that vampire reject could possibly do to them. For now, she needed to keep her mind focused on the destination at hand. Kota needed her more than ever.

The flight seemed to go faster the third time around seeing as she didn't have to worry about tailing after a run away Digidestined or figure out where in the Ghost Zone she was. Bypassing the stone wall and simply phasing through the castle, Ember continued to go down the passageways, half expecting to come across SkullSatamon along the way.

Once more, that odd feeling in the pit of her stomach came back. Could he be waiting for her? Was he going to simply ambush her? All those questions seemed to spin in her head. Why am I getting myself all worked up? I can take him. I've dealt with worse.

"I just pray that you are in the same spot Kota. Otherwise we could both be lost for a long time."

Down in the dungeons, Kota lay on his side desperate to find any relief for his aching body. He couldn't help but watch SkullSatamon pace back and forth in front of his cell. Kota wasn't stupid; he knew all too well why Myotismon refused to have Wizardmon guard his cell. The two were coming close, plotting about escaping, especially when word got out that Kiva was in the Digital World.

Kiva…the thought of her instantly put him in a bad depression, missing her greatly, yearning to see her once more. He was grateful beyond belief that he was able to feed once again. At least he had his strength to deal with whatever Myotismon dealt him. He hoped with all his heart that Kiva would remain safe.

As he turned his head back to the cell door, he started watching SkullSatamon pace again, this time with a purpose. He was timing him, trying to figure out how long it would take from the door to either side, then down the hall and back. Side from making him dizzy, Kota saw that there was a good four minute time span.

When SkullSatamon came passed the door again, this time he stopped and looked over at the weakling child, who was staring back with blank eyes of defeat.

"I should almost kill you now. I don't see what the Master sees in just a weakling child like you," SkullSatamon drawling leaning on his staff, slowly drumming his fingers along the side.

Kota didn't say anything, or budged, he wasn't scared of him. No matter how much he went through with Myotismon, he would not allow any of the other Digimon of his army to scare him.

"Finally got nothing to say? Oh I believe that is a first," SkullSatamon snickered running the claw holding a yellow jewel over the bars.

Kota eyed the jewel wearily; he knew all too well what that particular item could do to a Digimon, or even worse, himself. SkullSatamon smirked at him as he stood back a bit from the bars. "You know all too well what this could possibly do don't you?"

"Leave me alone!"

"Oh and he finally speaks. Let's see how you handle this. Skull Hammer!"

Kota cried out in pain as he was thrown back into the wall, he could feel the bones in his left arm, right leg, parts of his back and ribs break. SkullSatamon just laughed as he went back to his patrol.

Ember continued to search every passageway, staying invisible, not in any mood to run into any Digimon. She ended up bypassing Kudamon as she went to do her patrols, a hint of irritation on her. Ember smirked at her, it served her right. Ember had a feeling Myotismon must have denied her a task at hand. Further down the hall she saw Wizardmon walking by, a blank look on his face. Almost as if he was hiding something. That wasn't like Wizardmon at all, even though she didn't know him long, something was wrong.

Checking to make sure the coast was clear, she lowered herself to the floor and ran after Wizardmon as he went down another corridor. She prayed that no other Digimon was down there as she went invisible again and snuck up behind him.

"Wizardmon!"

Wizardmon turned around holding his staff in his hands ready to attack, for the first time he appeared on edge. That really wasn't like him at all. "Ember?" he said in disbelief.

"I am so glad I ran into you."

"You're here to get Kota aren't you?"

"Yes…how did you?"

"Just a feeling and the fact that you're here and he's here."

"Stupid questions then, heh. Where is he anyway?"

"He's down in the dungeons; there are two things I have to warn you about though."

"Well side from the fact that Kudamon isn't watching over him or you make me think someone else is guarding him."

"Yes. I have a feeling you've had a run-in with him before. SkullSatamon is guarding his cell-"

Ember made a choking noise in the back of her throat at the sound of his name.

"I thought you would remember him. There is also a serious matter I must bring up to you as well. It concerns Kota."

"What about him?"

"Ember, when I tell you this, you have to be as calm as possible and not get in over your head. I'm sure Kiva will do the exact same thing when you return."

"Yes, yes, tell me."

"Myotismon got a hold of him and punished him severely. I'm talking blood, scars, cuts, and possibly broken bones. You need to keep calm, and don't coddle him."

"Understood," Ember replied, cringing at what to expect with Kota.

"You need to be on your guard at all times. SkullSatamon is not one to be messing with."

"You don't need to tell me twice."

"Come with me, I can show you a safe area for you to get down."

"Don't worry about me, Wizardmon. That I can handle myself. Just stay safe for me."

"I will. Wait; before you leave…Yumi…is she?"

"She's back at the camp safe, a little torn in the back by bats but she'll heal."

"Thank you. I'm glad she returned."

"She'll be better with you at her side."

"Right now that won't be safe for me to do."

"Just a suggestion."

"Go, before Kota gets hurt any more."

Ember did not want to know what he meant by that as she took off through the stone floors heading directly to the dungeons. She didn't want to fool around any more. She had to get back to the group as soon as possible. The dungeon was soon upon her and the familiar damp smell filled her nose followed by the scent of blood.

"Kota…"

Rushing toward the cells, her heart skipped a beat when she saw SkullSatamon coming back toward her. Keeping in mind she was invisible and he didn't scare her, she crept forward ready to get straight to the cell.

"Who's down here?" SkullSatamon asked whirling around facing the area Ember once occupied before diving behind a near by wall.

'_How the hell did he see me? Better yet…how the hell did he know I was down here?'_ Ember panicked. She made no noise when she came down here, she kept quiet. Kota didn't see her…that she knew of.

"I think you are losing it," Kota said casually.

"Shut up you brat or you'll regret it," warned SkullSatamon.

"I'm getting really sick of your empty threats."

"Would you like another taste of my skull hammer?"

Ember, although mortified that Kota was risking his life, noticed that he was getting SkullSatamon away from the wall. What Ember didn't realize was that SkullSatamon had her scent from the last two times she had been in the castle and regardless of being invisible or not, he could still sense her. As she silently moved from her spot, she could see SkullSatamon raise his safe ready to attack the boy again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I take it back!" Kota apologized as soon as he saw a glimpse of Ember's blue hair move to another location.

"That's what I thought."

Turning his back to the cell, he went back to pacing, missing Kota stick out his tongue at him. Ember saw her chance as she went through the floor and headed to Kota's cell. She popped her head through the floor behind him. Kota could sense her presence behind him but didn't move as he kept his eyes on SkullSatamon. As soon as he passed the cell, Kota moved his head to face Ember who was now tangible.

"Ember, what are you doing here?" Kota whispered.

"Getting you out of here…" Ember responded voice hushed. "Act naturally."

Kota turned around just as SkullSatamon moved passed. "It's going to be suicide though," he whispered staying in the same position.

"Just trust me."

"Are you saying your prayers boy? They won't do you any good."

"On the contrary, he's just preparing for his escape," Ember grinned fully rising from the floor and aiming her guitar at him.

"Ooh, what are you going to do? Play me a song?"

Turning the dial on her guitar to a powerful sonic wave, Ember smirked at him. "You wish." She strummed the cords sending out the sonic wave, hitting him and sent him crashing to the wall.

"Great work Ember," Kota smiled.

"Come on, we need to get out of here, now!" Ember insisted.

"It's going to be impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, especially with a ghost at your side. Will you be able to handle me carrying you even with your back like that?" Ember asked noticing the scars.

"I think I can."

"All right, let's go you." Gently as she could, Ember picked the boy up in a bridal hold. She hated the fact that there was no clear area on his back to hold on to.

Renamon groaned as she tried to move as more of the Digimon got hit again by the Crimson Lightning. Yumi pressed her hand on to her chest pushing her back to the ground.

"You need to rest."

"I need to be out there!"

"No, Grizzlymon!" James yelled.

"Johnny, get out of there!" Victoria screamed.

"Argh!" Johnny yelled as he was sent tumbling backwards.

Myotismon smirked as the screams of the Digimon filled the air. The scent of blood filled his nostrils as he licked his lips hungrily. "So easy…and so simple."

"Yumi, we have to fall back," the pale, near anorexic, black hair boy shouted, fear in his tesla eyes.

The girl with black hair and red streaks, kneeling at Renamon's side shook her head. "We need to keep fighting, I refuse to fall back."

"You know this is suicide!" shouted Wolfmon, a strange tone to him. The girl with lavender hair seemed to be staring in shock at the girl.

"Kiva, I get this, but we have to keep him occupied!"

Kiva, hmm? So this was the girl…he felt his lips curl in contempt. He was going to snap this girl's neck and leave her for his bats…a nice snack. Yumi would be a lovely collection as well, no one to protect her.

He smirked as he spread his cape out. "Nightmare-"

"Wolf Howl!"

Yumi watched in awe as Wolfmon quickly attacked Myotismon while he was distracted. A look of thought came to her as she moved her hand over the wound.

"Kisho, I need you and Labramon!"

Kisho, who was a few feet from her, turned his head to see her waving at him; a plan was forming in that head of hers. Turning his attention to Labramon, he quickly called him over to Yumi's side.

"What is it?" the boy asked.

"A thought occurs to me, Labramon; don't you have a unique attack that could help in this situation?"

"My cure liquor?"

"Think you can work your magic?" Yumi asked, looking at the restless Renamon.

"You got it. Cure Liquor!" His attacked went directly for the wound on Renamon. A light formed around her as everyone stared in awe, this was the first time Labramon had ever needed to use the attack. There was never any true reason for him to use it.

**Kiva: What is the plan now?**

"We keep fighting."

"Are you insane?!"

"Apparently so, but we can not show defeat to the bastard," Yumi admitted.

"And we won't!" Renamon declared standing up as if she never got attacked in the first place.

"Renamon!" Victoria grinned widely.

"So are we going to just stand here looking like idiots or do something about it?"

"Show him what you are made of," Victoria grinned.

"Renamon digivolve too…Kyubimon!"

"What the?" DemiDevimon yelped as Kyubimon roared before crashing into Myotismon, snapping her jaws menacingly. Victoria couldn't hold back her excitement.

"That's my girl!"

Kyubimon made another very valid snap at Myotismon's neck and he furiously swatted her away.

"Ack!" she winced as she hit the ground before leaping back to her paws and snarled dangerously.

"Hey! Did anyone order back up?" Ember called smirking holding a still hurt Kota in her arms.

DemiDevimon looked up at the sky to see the blue haired ghost and silver haired boy. His mouth just dropped open.

"How did you get out of there?" Myotismon snapped at Kota, his eyes blazing as Ember stood by the others.

Kota couldn't help the smirk that formed on his face. "Next time, I would really make those cells ghost proof. Anyone could get in. Might also want to rethink keeping skelo-freak in charge."

Myotismon growled as the red whip appeared in his hand again. "Kota so help me, I swear I'll rip your back open!"

Kota just glared at him, now leaning heavily on Ember, without backing down. _'Not this time Dorkula,'_ Kota fumed.

**Kiva: Kota, I was worried about you. What happened?**

"I'll explain everything after. Right now, I say we show this vampire reject who he's dealing with."

Victoria, Kiva and Yumi joined Kota's side glaring at Myotismon who glared back at them with equal hatred. The girls' fists clenched so hard they could feel their nails cutting into their palms.

"You REALLY think this little…rebellion of yours is going to get you anywhere?" he asked, his tone soft but menacing.

"Got me this far, hasn't it?" Kota retorted coolly, feeling Ember and Kiva's hands on his shoulder giving him the courage and strength.

Myotismon twitched as his breathing got harsher. "You got lucky, foolish boy."

"Luck or no luck," Kota growled, his eyes narrowed. "I'm coming out of this as the winner, along with my friends. I won't let you hurt them!"

Myotismon smirked. "I don't think you have a say in that, do you?"

"Kyubimon…"

"Wolfmon…"

"Sic him!" Kiva and Victoria yelled.

Kyubimon and Wolfmon snarled crouching low before lunging at him with their teeth bared. Myotismon rolled his eyes before forming what looked like a shadow ball in both hands and easily blasted it into their chests.

"KYUBIMON! WOLFMON!" Kiva and Victoria screamed as the wolf and fox Digimon went flying backwards, hitting the ground, their chests soaked in blood.

Victoria let out a strangled gasp as her and Kiva raced forward, neither one saw the Crimson Lightning slice across their midriff, a gasp escaping the girls.

"GACK!"

"So…pathetic!" Myotismon said mockingly as the girls cringed with pain. "You truly think these girls will protect you?"

Kota glared at him, as he was being held back by Yumi and Ember as he watched at the blood from the battle stained the grass a violet red. Victoria groaned as she attempted to stand up, Kiva fought against the pain.

"We have to get them out of there," Mark insisted behind Yumi.

"You think I don't know that?" Yumi replied watching Myotismon move closer to the girls. "Mark, James, would you two be willing to send out Grizzlymon and Gaogamon?" she asked uneasily.

Gaogamon growled softly leaning forward resting his head on Mark's shoulder. "I am not afraid to face him."

"Neither am I," Grizzlymon growled next to James.

"All right, go get him!"

Gaogamon leapt over Mark and Yumi, while Grizzlymon charged by toward Myotismon wanting to protect their fallen comrades. Fury was in their eyes as their speed picked up.

"Spiral Blow!" yelled Gaogamon, sending out strong whirlwind-shaped blades from his mouth.

"Crescent Beam!" shouted Grizzlymon, the crescent moon on his forehead glowed before he shot out the powerful beam toward Myotismon.

Myotismon himself couldn't help the sadistic grin that formed on his face as he easily blew away the attack and sent it back to the Digimon knocking them backwards.

"No! Grizzlymon!"

"Gaogamon!"

"Labramon digivolve too…Dobermon!"

"Do it Dobermon!" Kisho yelled.

"Kisho, are you crazy?"

"I know what I am doing," the boy stated, his eyes never leaving his partner.

Dobermon quickly took off as Myotismon went to lash his Crimson Lightning at the girls again. He leapt over him before sending out an attack at Myotismon's back. He swore wildly gritting his teeth in anger and pain. "You little…" he snarled, whirling around, his blue eyes fixed on Dobermon with hate.

With Myotismon distracted, Yumi took the chance to run toward her friends, ready to help them get back to the group so they were of the immediate danger zone. Her footsteps were quick and quiet but it didn't stop him. As soon as she got to Victoria's side and checking her pulse, Myotismon whirled around to face her.

"FUCK!" Yumi yelled as another of Myotismon's shadow balls slammed into her right leg. Dobermon was too slow to stop as he let out a growl.

Myotismon grinned at Yumi as she grasped her leg, blood running down her leg. Although she wasn't as injured as the other two, the fact the pain in her leg was excruciating for her to run anyway. Her legs were shaking to keep her balanced on her bad leg.

"Aw, poor baby. What's the matter? Can't handle a simple challenge?" he smirked.

"Shut up!" Yumi spat groaning, her hand refusing to leave the wound. She saw Myotismon narrow his eyes as he threw another shadow ball at her other leg. "Argh!" her screams filled the air as she dropped to her knees. Her chest heaving in and out as the excruciation overwhelmed her. She glanced down at her legs, which she couldn't move without another spasm of intense pain. _'Fuck….if I can't run, then I have failed my friends and couldn't get them out.'_

Dobermon snarled as he clamed down on Myotismon's shoulder, anger filling him seeing as the girls' were in pain. He was ready to tear him apart, wanting to take revenge on the girls.

Myotismon growled at the searing pain in his shoulder as he went to throw the over sized Doberman off his shadow.

"Dobermon!" Kisho yelled as Dobermon hit the ground hard and skidding over the grass.

"See, I told you," Myotismon said silkily. "All your betrayal has made your so called friends suffer more than they need to."

Kota growled defiantly at him as Ember had to tighten his hold on him as he went to advance at the vampire Digimon.

"Pathetic, needing to hide behind a girl. Can't fight your own fights?"

Ember growled as her green eyes turned red at the words coming from Myotismon's mouth. As her anger grew, her grip on Kota loosened as she gripped her guitar.

Kota took this chance to advance on to Myotismon, ready to take matters into his own hands. He could hear the shouts of disbelief and telling him to get back. Obviously he refused to listen, he needed to get to Kiva's side and prove to Myotismon he wasn't weak and he didn't have to hide behind anyone.

Kiva lifted her head, eyes wide at the sight of Kota limping toward them. Although it was dark and no one could see, she desperately mouthed to him to get away from there.

Victoria moaned; hand still on her stomach as she forced herself to a sitting position looking at Kota. Behind him she could see Ember pointing her guitar at Myotismon; her eyes were glowing red and her robin blue hair getting wild as she sent out a flame attack after strumming a cord on the guitar.

While the attack was sent out, Yukito was able to dash out to go to Kota's side, regardless if the child wanted help or not. Yukito, himself, could feel the tension rising from the child, a strong energy was radiating off him.

"Kota, stop, he's not worth it."

"He deserved to die for all he's done."

"I get that, but to risk your life is suicide."

Myotismon just smirked as he drew his cape around himself as the flame attack bounced off him. Yumi's mouth dropped open, there was no way that he could have survived, was it fireproof or something?

Phantomon snuck behind the two boys ready for a sneak attack. His scythe was raised high glinting in the moonlight. Wolfmon and Kyubimon were the first to see the phantom Digimon move close to the boys.

"Kota! Yukito!" Wolfmon and Kyubimon roared, fear and panic in their voices. "Behind you."

"Huh?"

"Shadow Scythe!" Kota's eyes widened with horror while Yukito let out a startled gasp seeing the scythe swing right at his neck.

Time seemed to slow right down as Yumi's eyes widened in shock as she forced her legs to move seeing as the boys were standing there in shock. "Move!" Yumi ordered, scrambling to her feet, wincing in pain from her legs. She shoved the boys to one side as she let out a choked snarl of pain as she felt the blade rip through the muscle of her stomach and dropped to the ground with a groan.

"YUMI!" the startled group screamed in absolute horror.

Myotismon grinned at Phantomon seeing as the leader of the Digidestined now lay on the grass bleeding out from the open wound.

"Excellent shot!"

"I aim to please, my Lord," Phantomon grinned.

Kota and Yukito dropped to their knees, panic filling them as Yukito turned Yumi on to her back. "No…Yumi!"

A startled gasp left Victoria, breathing heavily at the fear of her loosing her best friend. She could see Kiva grip the grass under her in tight fists. Johnny and Ember had the look like someone slapped them. Kisho let out a chocked sob as he balled up his fist fighting back the urge to turn away.

Yumi's eyes were closed and her breathing was ragged. The boys felt their stomachs churn slightly at the gaping gash on her stomach, the blood pouring from it, black under the moonlight.

"Yumi, no, no! Wake up!" Yukito cried out slapping her gently and shook her. "Yumi, don't do this! You can't leave us! Wake up! Wake…" his voice clogged up.

Kota tried his hardest to stop the blood with anything he could find. He was shaking in fear that he was going to lose someone that saved him. He didn't want to feel regret if she died.

Dobermon, Kyubimon, Wolfmon, Gaogamon and Grizzlymon were already on their feet ready, as soon as Yumi got attacked. All five froze in their tracks, one paw lifted as they half-stepped towards them. "No…"

DemiDevimon gulped as he pointed in the other direction. "Uh…boss?"

Myotismon's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

Kyubimon leapt at Myotismon with her claws unsheathed, her teeth bared in a snarl as her whole body started to shine.

"Crap!" DemiDevimon shrieked.

"Kyubimon digivolve too…Taomon!" Taomon became her tall, humanoid Digimon form easily looking Myotismon right in the eyes. She unsheathed her claws from the long sleeves that were wicked sharp and shined menacingly in the moonlight.

"You have gone to far this time," Taomon's rich and echo voice spoke. "No one harms the ones I love, not while I am alive."

Myotismon snarled in contempt, drawing his lip back to show his fangs. "You insolent mongrel, you should know not to bark at your betters…Crimson Lightning!"

"Look out!" Wolfmon roared Taomon proved to be too fast for him.

She easily flew above the attack and glared down at him. "Thousand spells!" she snarled. Symbols appeared all around her in a circle before flying themselves at Myotismon. The red spell papers shot out, slicing through his flesh leaving deep cuts. "Argh!"

"Nice shot!" Mark yelled triumphantly as he made his way over to Victoria's side.

Myotismon snarled in frustration and raised his hands. "Grizzly Wing!"

"Talisman of light!" she chanted a mantra whilst painting in the sky a Sanskrit symbol before firing at him.

The two attacks exploded together, pushing at each other, with neither giving way.

"Now finish him off!" Tora yelled, her eyes blazing as she and Robert ran to Kiva's side.

James came skidding to a halt next to Mark and Victoria's side. She looked at both of them, unknown to her that a plan was forming in their hands.

"Are you able to walk?"

"A bit, yeah."

"Come on, we need to get you and Kiva to a safe place," James explained extending a hand out to her. Victoria accepted it as she pulled herself up with the help of Mark.

Robert and Tora were in the process of helping Kota. She gave them looks of annoyance of people trying to help her. She was far too proud to accept anything, but anytime she moved, a searing pain came over her.

"Kiva, for once, please, let us help you," Robert told her.

**Kiva: I am fine.**

"That's a load of bull, you are far too hurt. Please."

Kiva let out a silent sigh as she accepted Tora's hand as Robert helped her get to her feet. It went easy to move the girls while Myotismon was distracted, and Phantomon was distracted by the other Digimon.

Taomon growled at Myotismon and raised a paw menacingly, her claws pointed right at his throat. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're good child, I admit." He drew his cape around him. "But I am better!"

"TAOMON! WATCH OUT!" screamed Kisho.

"Nightmare Claw!"

Taomon shrieked as the attack blasted right into her check and she tumbled down, out of the sky, degenerating as she fell.

"Taomon!" Wolfmon roared as Renamon smacked into the ground with a groan, he ran to her side nuzzling her cheek. "Ugh…let's not do that again, all right?" she moaned.

Yukito swore slightly. "Great…now what?" he kept checking Yumi's vitals.

Myotismon smirked as he walked towards Wolfmon and Renamon, who groaned and stirred weakly in the grass. Wolfmon stood over her protectively not wanting anything back to happen to her. Myotismon smirked as he brought out the Crimson Lightning.

Yukito watched the Digimon, with Wolfmon growling dangerously at Myotismon. He needed to get Yumi to safety, only downside, she still wasn't moving. Carefully slipping his arms under her neck and knees he picked her up and held her close. He turned to Kota who had the look of dread on his face.

"Don't worry, she'll be safe. She's strong."

They only had one chance at this, if this plan worked, Ember could easily transport them to safety. Ember had her own doubts, but knew she had to do this for them. The other digimon retreated from attacking Phantomon, degenerating to their rookie forms.

"Come on!" Yukito yelled desperately, carefully making his way back to the group; Kiva and Victoria looked at Yumi in concern as she still didn't stir. "Let's get out of here!"

Just as Myotismon raised his Crimson Lightning, Wolfmon picked Renamon up by the scruff and ran at top speed back to the group, degenerating to Puppymon as soon as they reached the group.

Myotismon's eyes narrowed with fury. "Next time you won't escape!"

His scream followed the group as a purple smoke formed around the ten humans, eight Digimon and two ghosts, followed by the same robin blue spiral.

"Yumi…come on, wake up!"

"H…huh?" Yumi's eyelids slowly cracked as Yumi felt the cool wind over her face. "Where…where am I?"

"It's okay," Yumi heard Victoria's voice. "You're safe."

When Yumi's eyes slowly opened, she realized she was lying on her back with her head lying on Victoria's lap.

"Hey sleepy head," Victoria smiled at her, running her fingers through the other girl's tangled hair. "You okay?"

"Y…yeah, I'm…fine. What happened?" Suddenly everything came rushing back in a dizzy impact. "Myotismon! Where is he?"

"Probably about a thousand miles behind us now," Robert said. "Still screaming his head off."

"Yumi's its fine," Tora reassured seeing the confusion and apprehension on her face. "We got away. There's no way he can catch us now."

Yumi looked around at their surroundings; they were in an enclosed space with water right by them. Everyone was sitting in a circle around her. Kiva was on her right side with Kota resting his head on his lap, bandages wrapped around him. His eyes were open and looking directly at her. Although it wasn't shown, Kiva and Victoria had bandages wrapped around their midriffs.

"Thank you for everything you did," Kota said, voice hoarse.

"You are welcome, I couldn't let anything happen to either of you," her voice equally hoarse. "I don't understand though…how did we get away?"

"You can thank me for that," Ember replied sitting on Victoria's left side.

"I should have realized," Yumi grinned. "I appreciate it," she winced as she tried to move slightly.

"Easy there," Yukito warned as Yumi looked down at her stomach to see it bandaged as well. "Between you and Kota, you both have lost a lot of blood. I did what I could to help, but you know our supplies."

"It was still enough to help, thank you," Yumi touched the bandages lightly wincing again before looking back at the others. "What about the Digimon?"

"You know that Labramon has that epic attack of his," Kota grinned hugging his partner.

"Let's not worry about his right now, I say we get some sleep," James spoke up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted."

"I hear you," Renamon yawned rubbing her eyes."

Yumi could feel her own eyelids become like lead, it actually felt good to be back with the group safe and sound, regardless of the pain that still remained in her body.

**A/N: Holy crap, I think that has to be the longest chapters I have ever written. I would have had this up sooner but with how much that needed to be written, you can understand the reason. Everyone is officially back in the group, yes hurt, but safe. I do need to warn you all, there will be more graphic scenes later on. I will always warn you all before each chapter just so you know what to prepare for.**

**Victoria: I think someone has some major problems.**

**Yumi: -face palm- can we please stop talking about it.**

**Yukito: What is with you and the tall, dark and handsome?**

**Yumi: Like you wouldn't have done the same. I think I actually saw Robert grasp your hand.**

**Kiva: Okay, so you have obsessions over vampires -ahem- Kota**

**Yumi: Kota is a little kid…well in a body of an eight year old…I see him as adorable**

**Ember: You need help.**


	39. Back to the Hell Hole

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the wolves, White Hunter, Night's Oath, Black Prism of certain Doom for your reviews, they mean a lot to me as you all know and it's good to know that these chapters are going good. We are close to being back in the real world, which means only one thing; I am going to be desperately trying to think of chapter outlines. Instead of three days like the show, it's going to be 14. I've got some done at the moment, I just hope I can have them complete before I get these two chapters done. So if chapter updates gets really slow, you'll understand why. Anyway, enjoy chapter 39.**

**Chapter 39**

**Return to the Hellhole**

Two weeks passed by since the group had the run in with Myotismon and Phantomon. Kota seemed to be finally at peace since being rescued once again and got to remain with the group permanently. Kiva and Victoria's wounds healed up nicely, theirs weren't as bad as Kota and Yumi's injuries. As for Yumi and Kota, they were still healing, their bones were mending slowly and Yumi's deep gash was taking its own sweet time to close.

The group once more found themselves sprawled out on the grass enjoying the afternoon sun. Yumi rested against a nearby oak tree allowing the sun to bask on her face. For once she allowed that feeling instead of hiding from it. A cool wind blew through playing with her hair she kept down. The soft melody of Ember's guitar rang through the air above where Yumi sat.

Victoria and Renamon were enjoying their time by the river, Victoria's feet dangling above the water as James, Mark and Tora were playing in the water, splashing water at each other having a great time. Penguinmon was lying on his back swimming past them, randomly spitting out water at them.

Kota and Kiva were protected by the sun under another tree close to where Yumi sat. Puppymon lying at Kiva's feet half inside the shade, half in the sun. Some of Kota's bandages were visible, while a lot were hidden. Yukito did a great job at mending the bones to the best of his ability. Although not a doctor, Yukito had his own training and knew certain things about these injuries.

As for Robert and Yukito, they were in a mix between organizing lunch, filling the water bottles and making everything comfortable. While they were praying for a way home, this was their solitude, their safe place for the time being.

Yumi let out a yawn as she opened her eyes and surveyed the area. A small smile graced her lips, she hated to admit it, but the scene before her was a happy one that seemed to be foreign to her. Unknown to her until now, was Kisho laying his head on her lap looking completely peaceful in a state of sleep. Labramon took comfort lying on him, also sleeping. Not too often were they graced with the idea of peace and tranquility in the Digital World.

She ran her fingers through the boy's hair lightly as her eyes scanned the area more. She could hear Ember's voice above her singing other artists songs. It was quite enjoyable to hear the melody. Kisho stirred after a bit, shifting his head before opening his eyes smiling up at the older girl.

"It's so good to wake up to see you here still," Kisho said softly petting Labramon's head.

"Most nights you refuse to leave my side," smiled Yumi, a teasing tone in her voice.

"I'm afraid you'll run off again and leave us."

"Oh Kisho, I'll never leave your sides ever again, no matter how annoying most can be."

"Yeah, Kiva's been deal with a bit of that."

"Oh I believe it. I heard what she did when you all went to rescue Kota for the first time."

Kisho just laughed, true, it was his brother who got beaten up, but he deserved it. Kota is a part of their team now and he deserved to have the same treatment set upon him as the rest do. Yumi was proud to see Kisho take a step up and accept others.

Kisho grinned a bit as he sat up pushing Labramon off him in the process, which brought upon a light growl. Kisho couldn't help the smile as he went to his partner's side to play with him.

Yumi smiled at them as she strained to push herself up to a standing position, a searing pain radiating off her abdomen. She ignored the pain as she moved over to the edge and bent down to the best of her ability and splashed water on to her face in an attempt to waken herself up. She let out a yelp as someone splashed her exposed back with ice cold water.

"Hey! Whoever did that is going to die!"

Whirling around Yumi came face to face with James standing there with a look of shock as his eyes widened and pointed at Bearmon. Bearmon looked up at him, eyes equally wide and pointed at James unsure of what to do.

"You two are so DEAD!" Yumi yelled with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

James and Bearmon gulped at Yumi's threat as she smacked the water hard enough for it to spray James and Bearmon right in the eyes. "Ack!"

"That's what you get!"

James knew not to attempt getting on Yumi's bad side and risking her wrath. Bearmon on the other hand didn't mind risking his life. His eyes narrowed. "Oh…it's on now!"

Yumi eyed the bear Digimon waiting to see what he had planned. Behind her, Gaomon snuck up behind her and splashed again. Her body tensed from the chill. Turning around, she saw Gaomon grinning at her; Mark smirked behind the Digimon, slowly getting to his own feet. Shrieks of laughter could be heard minutes later as everyone, excluding Kota, Kiva and Puppymon, went into a full out war. The groups differed but ended up being Tora, Lalamon, James, Bearmon, Mark and Gaomon versus Yumi, Victoria, Renamon, Kisho, Labramon and Penguinmon.

It truly was an odd sight to behold, everyone out of their regular characteristics. One would have to be there to believe the actual fun the group was having. Was this just a weird dream one of the girls was having? As much Yumi and Victoria would deny everything, it truly was real and the two actually showed a fun side. The change? Perhaps it was the attack, or perhaps it was weeks of being together.

Out of the blue, as everyone began to calm down from their fun in the sun, to the right of the group came a yell of, "CANNONBALL!" Yumi's eyes widened as she looked over just as Penguinmon jumped into the deepwater.

"Oh CRAP!"

"GAH!" the group yelped as the wave of water crashed over them completely soaking everyone to the bone. "Penguinmon!"

He just grinned as he emerged to the surface. "Got you all!"

Renamon was about to go after him when Robert's voice called out to them. "Gather round everyone!"

"I hope lunch is ready," James said ruefully, "after all that fun, I am starving!"

Robert ran up to them panting. "Gennai's back! He wants to speak with us!"

"He is actually alerting us this time?" Yumi asked snidely, wringing water out of her hair.

Mark's face lit up at the sudden thought. "Perhaps he's found a way for us to go home."

Kota's eyes could have popped out the way they widened in horror. Home…Go…home? He didn't know how to feel or react to that. If they truly could go home, did that mean if he went with them he'd wake up? What happens if he was stuck there permanently? An unease feeling came over his stomach. No…no…they couldn't go home! He didn't mean to sound selfish, but what happens if he got captured again or worse? Would Kiva actually abandon him after all they went through?

"Well, now that we're here…don't hold back now!" Yumi exclaimed as they all crowded around the shimmering hologram. A towel wrapped around her shoulders hiding her wounds. "What exactly is going on?"

Gennai smiled. "Well, I have some good news, and some bad news."

"This old game again? Why must we go through this everyone time?" Yukito groaned.

Mark rolled his eyes at Yukito's dramatics. "Just give us the good news."

Gennai chuckled as he looked around the dismayed looking group. "Actually, you all look like you could use some cheering up. I've been told another child will be joining your group."

"Another…"

"Whoa…what did you say?"

"Honestly…another child?" Victoria asked in disbelief. "WHO tells you these things anyway?"

"Well, this is someone who you will want on your team. This someone…is a Digidestined."

"Are you kidding?" gasped Yukito.

"I just hope this other Digidestined has a Digimon who can help us!" Labramon barked.

Gennai cleared his throat as the others began to voice their opinion. "The important thing to remember is that all ten of you must be together. As long as you are separated, the worlds will not be in harmony. Everything will go wacko so we must find them as soon as possible!"

"How is it possible to be together, to defend both worlds if we don't have all our Digimon?" Yumi spat.

"I am positive that when the time comes you shall come face to face with the one you seek."

"You listen here. I have been going through the entire trip in the Digital World. I have been following a phantom dot. Are you sure you are not trying to pull a fast one on me?"

"Whoa, whoa, Yumi, breathe. It's not worth biting his head off!" Victoria warned trying to calm her friend down.

"Is there anyway you can give us something on this kid?" Yukito prompted, clearly wanting to change the subject and get rid of the tension. "Like…what's his or her name?"

"It's…" Everyone froze in place, no one was able to move, their breathing caught in their throats. "…I forgot…"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" yelled Yumi fighting in Renamon's arms

"GENNAI!" James yelled with frustration as everyone groaned.

"Calm down. I do know the location of the child—it's Japan."

"Where is Japan?" Penguinmon asked in confusion, cocking his head to one side.

"Japan is a big island in the Far East," Renamon replied.

Puppymon looked up at her in confusion, of course he knew she disappeared, but not to where. Why she didn't tell him was beyond him. "How the HELL do you know that?"

"Renamon and Victoria were transported there temporarily when our two worlds converged," Robert explained.

"Hence where we came in," Johnny piped up grinning.

"Okay Mister Hot Shot, you don't need to gloat."

"If they ever converge again, maybe we'll get to go home," Kisho said grinning.

"However, that was the good news."

"Oh, here we go with the bad," Yumi muttered rolling her eyes.

"Myotismon has heard of the tenth child as well, and will be going to Japan soon. He's gathering his forces as we speak."

Kota stared at him blankly. "Wait-WHAT? Hold on a sec!" Kota protested, stepping forward. "How in Yggdrasil's name can he? You'd need a por- "Which he has."

"Um…excuse me?"

Gennai smiled mysteriously. "That castle hasn't always belonged to Myotismon…the first owners created a portal that would take them back and forth between the worlds. However, if he and his forces get there first…" Gennai warned. "Both of the worlds are doomed!"

"Then we need to get in there, now!" Yumi exclaimed.

Victoria quickly grabbed Yumi's arm she stormed forward. "What do you think you are doing?"

"We need to stop him!" Yumi declared fearless written all over her face.

"Are you trying to get us all killed? We can't just storm in there," Mark said.

"That doesn't scare me."

"You didn't go the last time! You have no clue of what to expect," Kota yelped.

"Look the longer we wait, the more time he has!"

"Yumi, you have no idea what lay in wait in there. Who is to say it'll be a walk in the park?"

"Regardless, Kota, is that really such a good idea for you to be going back in there?" Tora asked worriedly. "What happens if Myotismon sees you?"

"That's a risk I'm going to have to take."

"Look, we are all going to go in there together. No one's going in there alone!"

"Is it even wise for you four to be going in there period?" Mark asked glancing at Victoria, Yumi, Kiva, and Kota's still bandaged sides. "The four of you are still injured!"

"Correction, Kiva and I are fine. I highly doubt that Kota and Yumi will hold back."

"Before we all get into a massive fight. It's an obvious idea of how we are getting in there," Yukito said indicating to the ghosts. "Should we have someone scout around to see if anyone is guarding the area?"

"That's a good idea."

Demidevimon groaned as he stood out on the courtyard, looking at the new recruits. "Gah…the noodle-brainer team!" The group, mostly consisting of Numemon and Vegiemon, all grumbled to each other, while others laughed and made crude jokes.

"Don't worry!" Demidevimon turned around to see what looked like a miniature boxer storm down the steps, with a hairy black beard, sunglasses, and a tattoo on his right arm. "These dweebs will be unbeatable when I get through with them!"

"Nanimon is an invader Digimon. I'd tell him what I really think of his sunglasses, but his Power Punch would flatten me!" He grinned. "All right, big guy, we know you can talk the talk but now it's time for you to show your stuff!"

"Just watch…" Nanimon growled in response, glaring at the weakling Rookies over his sunglasses.

"I don't wanna," Demidevimon replied, before fluttering back into the castle.

Up above them on one of the castle turrets, Kota, Ember, Johnny and Renamon grinned down at the small group gathering. Thankfully Nanimon was even dumber than Demidevimon.

"At least we have the brain dead group in there," Renamon said.

"Come on, let's head back so we can inform the others," Johnny muttered to the three out of the corner of his mouth.

Renamon swished her tail as she eyed the group. "The faster we do this, the faster we get inside."

Kota looked up at Ember, something in his red eyes telling her he was planning something and it wasn't going to be safe. "Help me get inside without those two knowing."

"Kota that is suicide. You can't go around risking your life like this," Ember shot back.

"Please, as long as I have you at my side, everything will be okay," Kota pleaded. In truth, he wasn't being completely straight with the others. He wasn't just there to be a look out on the turrets; he wanted to check up on Wizardmon. Myotismon knew Wizardmon and I were close; Kota clenched his fists slightly at the thought. If he punished Wizardmon for Kota's disappearance, he'd kill him.

"Kota?"

"H-huh? Oh…so Renamon, just a thought," Kota hesitated, hoping Renamon and Johnny could fall for this part. "Why don't you two go and get the others, Ember and I will stay and watch."

"What? Are you kidding me?" Renamon snapped. Kota had a feeling that would be her reaction as Johnny glared at Ember to determine what truly was going on. "You're insane if you think we are leaving you guys," she hissed, grabbing Kota by the shoulders and shaking me.

"Shh!" Kota hissed, clasping a hand over her mouth, looking back down at the scene below them. "Nothing is going to happen, I promise."

"I'm not going to be responsible to telling the others that you- "What ARE they doing?" Kota asked in fake surprise, looking back down at the scene below. He managed to make Ember jump ion startle.

"Huh?" The instant Renamon and Johnny turned their attention back; Kota and Ember were off, disappearing into the shadows before she could grab the human or ghost. Kota could hear Renamon cursing a mile away. The instant Kota and Ember gave them the slip; both knew that they were going to be in for it.

Ember grabbed hold of Kota's wrist as she pulled him behind a corner. This was definitely dangerous, he was risking both their lives if Myotismon were to catch them, then it'll be all over.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" she whispered.

"More then ever," Kota replied.

"All right, if you're -huh?" both froze at the sound of footsteps, not daring to breathe as the sound got closer and closer. Kota had a look of horror on his face as fear flooded through him. "Crap!"

Ember wrapped her arms around the boy going completely invisible just as Demidevimon rounded the corner, grumbling under his breath. "Stupid Numemon…boss can't find out about this."

Kota let out a sigh of relief as he leaned against Ember, his body relaxing after a mere scare attack. If Demidevimon was meeting with Myotismon, then the others would be too. And that included Wizardmon. Kota nodded up at Ember convinced to follow DemiDimwit and see the vampire reject was planning and be back before any of the others decided to get too far in.

Ember kept her hold on Kota's hand to keep him completely invisible. The only downside to all of this was SkullSatamon had their scent as did Myotismon. They needed to keep cautious the entire way. Silently as possible, the two followed DemiDevimon back down the hallway.

"Here is how I see it," Robert continued as the others all sat in a circle outside the castle. "Myotismon sent Demidevimon to distract us while he finished preparing the gate."

"That's a good theory," Gennai chuckled.

Out of the group, Victoria and Kiva seemed to be distracted. Kiva's eyes continuously gazed at the wall, a look of apprehension on her face. Victoria's eyes seemed glazed over as she tried to figure out what could be taking the four so long.

"You two okay?" Kisho asked concerned.

"Hmm…what? N-nothing…Renamon, Ember, Johnny and Kota have been gone a good while," Victoria replied, voice distant.

"Kota, just get back here, I hate being this worried about you," Kiva sighed.

Demidevimon kept grumbling to himself as he raised a clawed talon to knock on the solid oak door. Kota's heart rate picked up as fear over powered him. Back out now wouldn't be too bad, this was definitely suicide.

"Come in," Myotismon's voice, cold and echoing caused Kota to jump in fright and Ember to cover his mouth as a scream nearly escaped his lips.

"Myotismon!" he said excitedly as he walked into the room. Ember had to drag Kota in after him. "I have good news to report! The soldiers are assembled and we're ready to move out!"

Myotismon's back was to the three as he was sitting in his desk chair. No one needed to see his face to picture the look of contempt. "Are they worthy of me?"

Demidevimon sweat dropped unsure if he should truly tell the truth. "Y-yes my master!"

Kota choked out a laugh at what DemiDevimon thought was worthy. Ember glared at him as she kept the hand on his mouth.

"If you are trying to get us killed, please, keep it up."

A soft girlish laugh echoed in the room, Kota felt a chill run down his spine as Ember pulled him to the side. "They're a bunch of helpless sea slugs if you want MY opinion."

Demidevimon whirled around with a snarl as Kudamon walked through the door, a mocking smirk on her face. Behind her in walked Wizardmon, and to both their horrors…SkullSatamon! Kota's heart stopped at the sight of him as Ember pulled him away from the group before Kota could go into hyperventilation mode.

Wizardmon let out a sighed as he entered the room, softly closing the door behind him. He had bags under his eyes, and his hair was slightly messier than usual, as if he hadn't slept right in weeks.

Kota felt a pang of guilt rise in his chest at the sight of him. _'Is that because of me? Am I truly the cause?'_

"Just where did you manage to find those bunches of goofballs anyways?" Kudamon snapped at him.

Demidevimon snarled. "You think you could do better?"

"With my paws tied!"

Kota rolled his eyes; it had been so peaceful all those weeks without the constant arguing between those two.

"Kudamon-"Kudamon, don't waste your time on him!" Myotismon snapped at her, cutting off Wizardmon. "Have you done what I've asked of you?"

"Yes," she replied, bowing. "With your instructions I searched everywhere and found the most ferocious Digimon I could find. You'll be very pleased."

"I knew I could trust YOU, Kudamon. I look forward to meeting them," Myotismon smirked as Kota let out a silent gag.

SkullSatamon turned his head, the look on his face told Ember something bad was going to happen. Their scent must be coming up very strong. How and why Myotismon was not actually picking it up was beyond Ember and Kota.

"Stay very calm, do you understand me?" Ember warned.

Kota nodded feeling her grip on him tighten. If anything were to happen, Ember was going to have to sneak them out through the floors.

Wizardmon seemed to sense the larger Digimon's attention shift as his own gaze flickered away from Myotismon, Kudamon and DemiDevimon and came to rest where Kota and Ember stood, near crouching. His jade eyes widened with horror. What neither one realized was Ember's hair starting to appear and although the scent faint, it was coming through regardless.

SkullSatamon was not stupid; the others might have been well distracted by Myotismon's speech. As he went to move closer ready to take out Kota and Ember, Wizardmon crossed over to Kota and Ember and stood in front blocking SkullSatamon from getting closer. The two crouched in front on him, a look of panic on Kota's face as he looked up pleadingly into Wizardmon's furious face.

SkullSatamon let out a growl of annoyance at Wizardmon's interference. His staff lifted up ready to strike the terrified child and ghost.

"Oi! Wizardmon!" Demidevimon called turning around to face him after hearing the growl. "Whatcha doing?"

"Uh…nothing…" Wizardmon replied turning around to face the group.

Myotismon's eyes narrowed suspiciously as SkullSatamon's staff pointed at Wizardmon's chest. "Wizardmon?"

"Yes my lord?" Wizardmon responded innocently, Kota could see the sweat form on the back of his neck.

"Is there something you're hiding?"

Kota felt like he was going to be sick as SkullSatamon looked directly at them. Ember was physically shaking as SkullSatamon raised his claw like hand to the half invisible Kota and Ember.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to come back."

"Ember, we need to go, we need to go!"

"Don't touch them!" Wizardmon called out. SkullSatamon narrowed his eyes as he swatted Wizardmon to the far wall. Ember became intangible as she disappeared through the floor with Kota.

"This is nerve wracking," Kiva murmured pacing outside the castle walls.

"Just breathe, there's no sense in getting all worked up over this," Mark said in exasperation. "I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Kiva glared at him in annoyance at what he said. Victoria placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from yelling at them.

"There is no sense in arguing right now, Renamon will get them back safely," Yumi insisted staring at the top of the wall.

"How can you be so calm? How is this not bugging you?" Tora asked.

"I try to just look at the positive aspects. I know it's hard to believe," Yumi replied absentmindedly.

"Where's Kota and Ember?" Victoria asked Renamon in concern as she and Johnny landed next to the group again.

Renamon let out a groan as she faced Johnny who hung his head. "We thought they would have been back here. They wanted us to come back while they stayed and watched. They gave us the slip, we thought they would back been back."

The chaos triplets' faces slowly went pale at the words. "You let them go?!"

"You must find them and the Gate, quickly, before Myotismon can misuse either!" Gennai scowled.

"We better move it!"

"Stay close to me," Johnny instructed taking their hands causing everyone to go intangible.

Kota panted as Ember dragged him down the hall trying to gain some distance between Myotismon and themselves. Ember risked going into full reveal seeing as she couldn't maintain the invisibility for long. The two thought they were alone as they rounded a corner. It wasn't until someone grabbed Kota's arm.

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" Kota yelped tugging at Ember's arm as someone dragged both into a corner. Kota swung ready to punch the figure in the face.

"Kota, calm down!" Wizardmon yelped as he ducked. "It's just me!"

"…Wizardmon?" Kota gasped as Ember crouched next to them a murderous look on her face.

"Yes!" Wizardmon reassured as he placed a hand on Ember's shoulder. Kota breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly calmed down. "Don't DO that, will you? I don't think my heart can take any more of that!"

Wizardmon's jaw was set tight as he looked at him. "What the hell was Kiva thinking to let you wander in here?"

"Don't blame Kiva! She didn't know it's not her fault! I asked Ember to come in here with me!" Kota bristled slightly.

"I thought you had more sense then that Kota," Wizardmon sighed.

"He is completely safe. Don't blame him," Ember defended

"Why would you allow it?"

"To keep an eye on him."

"You should have stayed with the Digidestineds!"

"Regardless, he would have come back. You need to TRUST me, Wizardmon. I know what I'm doing, I promise."

Wizardmon looked at the boy in disbelief. He couldn't be completely serious. As he looked over at Ember, he could see what the boy was saying was true. "It's too much of a risk to come back, especially in your condition."

"That's why I have Ember, Wizardmon, please, no more arguments. I just…" Kota paused listening as the sound of footsteps came closer.

"Kota, we have to go," Ember said on high alert grabbing Kota's hand and dragging him out of the corner and bolted down the hallway, leaving Wizardmon behind.

"Something doesn't feel right about all this," Labramon admitted uneasily walking next to Kota.

Kisho glanced down upon him, as he scanned the shadows on the walls. "I feel it too."

"It feels off from the last time we were here, don't you agree?" Puppymon replied.

Kiva's eyes widened as Victoria, Renamon, Kisho, Labramon, Puppymon and Yumi spotted a torch hanging from the ceiling…beneath them. "What the?"

"Yukito, give it up!" Robert exclaimed as he watched his boyfriend wrestled desperately with a giant steel lock with no way of giving in.

Yukito groaned as he looked at his chapped hands. "I've tried everything and it's still locked."

"Maybe if we had a key we could get in!" Tora said hopefully.

"You've done all you could," Robert said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"If we had anything stronger, we could blast our way in," Penguinmon piped up.

"Perhaps there's another way in!" Labramon said.

"Come on, I even know there isn't anything exciting in there," Johnny replied.

"Something's off…" James muttered as he and Bearmon walked down one of the bridges linking the hallways together. This was something new to him; they never went down this way all those weeks ago.

"What's wrong James?"

James glanced down and frowned as he, once again, spotted a familiar area on the wall. "We've passed this way before!"

"James, is that you dude?"

"Wha? Mark?" he glanced down over the side to see Mark and Gaomon beneath him. "Yeah, I'm up here! Have you found anything unusual down there?"

"Well, you could say that," Gaomon replied. "Truth is, WE'RE way up here and YOU'RE way down there!"

"I think you guys must need glasses!" Bearmon exclaimed. "We're way above you!"

"That's not possible!" Mark said in confusion as he looked down at James.

Kota and Ember panted as the two ran down the hallway. Something seemed totally different about all this. Kota didn't recognize the passageway. He let out a terrified yelp as the ground shifted underneath their feet. "What the?"

Ember's eyes widened as she saw a torch hanging upside down from the ceiling beneath her feet and the paved stone floor high above.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me, he hexed it damn it, I'm going to KILL him!" Kota growled.

"Hold up, think first before you rush off."

Myotismon wasn't stupid; after the last break in with the Digidestined searching for Kota, he needed to make it difficult for them to get in again. Especially with an attempt of everyone to never find the portal or allow Kota and Ember escape.

The sound of low growling filled their ears; Ember pulled him back into a nearby corner. Huge shadows played on the wall as they marched past the two heading off somewhere.

"Kudamon's new recruits," Kota whispered to Ember, feeling sick to his stomach. He was truly having mixed feelings about the fox, but annoyance and hatred was building up.

The only upside about seeing them, perhaps they could lead the two the Gate, which was probably where Myotismon will be now. Kota glanced over his shoulder and said a silent prayer that the Digidestined would be able to find the portal. He knew Kiva was going to kill him. When he was ready, Ember grabbed his hand as the two slipped after them going invisible.

"We have all the exits sealed off with our best guards," Kudamon said as she looked up at her master. "There's no way he's getting out of here." Myotismon smirked at her; soon he'd have Kota back. He won't be able to escape ever again. "Grr…"

"What is it?" he asked in a bored voice as one of the Bakemon floated in.

"We've prepared the room and it's ready for your inspection."

"Good." He turned to face Kudamon and Demidevimon. "I am ready to proceed. Go now and tell our forces no sacrifice is too great in this moment of glory!"

"Right!"

He smirked as the two of them disappeared through the door and he glanced down at the cards he held in one hand. The cards had strange designs and odd words printed on the back. They were far more valuable then they appeared to be.

Myotismon strode over to the bookshelf; he pushed some of the books out of the way revealing a silver lock. He twirled the lock a few times, and the shelf slowly slid to one side. A dark doorway opened up in front of him, and he smirked again as he walked down the stone steps, his cape billowing behind him.

"Here is my thought," Robert sighed gloomily as the group reunited again and sat together, slumped against the wall, "is that Myotismon's created these optical illusions not just to deter us from finding the gate but not to interfere again. After our rescue mission, I doubt he was going to allow us the easy walk through twice."

"He's definitely succeeded with that," Yumi groaned in frustration rubbing her face. "We're completely lost!"

Renamon glanced over at a very agitated Kiva, who looked like she could throttle someone at any time. "Any luck locating Kiva?"

Kiva shook her head as she gripped her digivice tightly. "No, I can't pick up his signal. He must be staying out of people's range or Ember's keeping him invisible. Regardless, it's a wise idea in these circumstances."

"At least she's safe with Ember," Johnny said.

Gaomon, Puppymon, and Labramon suddenly stiffened, their ears twitching from side to side. "Huh?"

"Puppymon, what is it?" Kiva asked now on full alert.

"Someone's coming."

"You sure?" James asked.

"Do you truly doubt me?"

"Grr…"

"Get down!" Victoria hissed crouching low as Renamon bared her teeth. Everyone else did the same, hoping to go unnoticed. Kisho was pressed against Yumi as she pushed him low to the ground, eyes narrowing and changing to a gold colour similar to that of wolves, as huge shadows passed by them on the wall.

"I'm itching to fight."

"Why? Cause you got fleas?" one Digimon teased.

"They have a clear idea of where they are going," Victoria said in a low voice.

"Come on then, they can lead us to the Gate!" Yumi replied.

Kota and Ember slowly crept back towards Myotismon's study, cautious of any unexpected Digimon attack. If the entrance to the Gate was anywhere, it would be here. The door creaked open and the two stepped back before realizing that the room was empty.

The two softly strolled back into the room and closed the door behind them. Kota sniffed the air hoping to catch Myotismon's scent; blood and cheap cologne. The scent seemed to be strong by….the bookshelf? Kota cocked his head slightly in confusion as he made his way over to the bookshelf with Ember right behind him. Working quickly, the two shifted a few of the heavier volumes out of the way. Behind them was a lock, a look of dismay came over their faces as they stared at it.

With a sudden start, Ember realized that the lock wasn't reset. Pulling on it slightly, the bookshelf swung to the side, revealing a huge staircase looming downwards. Kota gulped slightly as Ember placed a hand on his shoulder giving him as much courage as possible. Nodding his head they proceeded to descend the stairs silently.

"I will now be embarking on a journey to another world," Myotismon said, narrowing his eyes as he stared down at the army in front of him.

Several of them shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, while Demidevimon and a few others looked up adoringly. Kota and Ember made their way to a ledge above the staircase, well hidden in the shadows. Kota gagged at the sight of the few Digimon who looked upon Myotismon.

"There are forces here which must be neutralized before our victory here can be complete," he continued, a smirk starting to form on his face. "But never fear, I shall return in triumph!"

Their cheers echoed throughout the basement, and he smirked again before turning to face what looked like a stone pedestal with strange carvings on its front and side. In front of them stood a pair of giant, stone doors, with symbols around its sides, looming ominously overhead. And it was these doors Myotismon wanted so badly to open.

"It's time to stand back and watch me work my magic!" Myotismon shouted triumphantly, tossing down several cards down in a specific order.

The cards, along with the pedestal's top, started to glow an eerie blue that lit up the vampire's face, making the shadows on it stand out more. "Open the gate to my destiny!"

Would it actually work? It HAD to work, after all this planning, he couldn't let this be for nothing. For a few seconds, there was nothing. Slowly…the gates started to creep open, Myotismon's face split into a triumphant grin as the light from the Gate poured through.

Kudamon growled as she turned around to face the army of Digimon behind them. "Company move!" The shadows flickered on the wall, as the footsteps of the huge Digimon shook the ground as they marched through the Gate. Kota fell ill when he saw SkullSatamon move through.

"The Earth is doomed."

Myotismon chuckled slightly as he turned around and starting to walk towards his carriage.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Hmm?" Myotismon turned around and narrowed his eyes with contempt as the Digi-brats raced down the steps, the black haired, Digimon-less leader charging ahead of them. "So long as I still walk, I will stop you!"

Myotismon chuckled at the stubborn girl's determination. "Ah, you're finally here, but it is too late. Look well upon this historic moment!"

"Enough with the dramatics, Dorkula!"

Myotismon's eyes widened at the sound of the small boys voice. Kiva had a mix look upon her face as she skidded to a stop. "Kota!"

Kota smirked as he hopped down from the ledge with Ember's help and landed in front of the Digidestined, folding my arms as he grinned at Myotismon. "Didn't even have to get Ember to turn me invisible this time. Your senses must be going old mon."

"You watch your mouth, little brat!"

Kota's eyes narrowed. "You MAKE me…if you can…"

"Aren't we the confident one?" Myotismon asked softly, his voice lowering dangerously. Kota easily shrugged it off feeling a strong sense of courage being close to the others.

"Puppymon!" Kiva yelled.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

Wolfmon snarled as he pounced at him, his claws bared and slashing wildly. Myotismon just rolled his eyes before swatting the wolf Digimon away easily, slamming him back down onto his back.

"Demidevimon, will you please take care of this annoying gang of hoodlums?" he asked in a bored voice as he climbed into the carriage. "I have better things to do."

"Of course sir!" he replied eagerly, bounding forward. "Anything you want sir!" Myotismon smirked at the Digidestined as Demidevimon glared as he fluttered in front of them. "None of you twerps is getting past me!"

"Like to see you stop us you bowling ball freak!" Yumi spat angrily.

"I brought reinforcements!" Demidevimon replied proudly, standing slightly aside. "Show them Nanimon!"

"Right!" Nanimon grunted, as he and pathetic crew of Numemon, Vegiemon and Sukamon crowded in front, blocking the way. "I'm not letting any of guys through!"

Yumi, Victoria and Kota snorted with laughter at the sight of the pathetic looking Digimon. "You've got to be kidding me!" Victoria chided calming down from her laughter. "Get them Renamon."

"Farewell Digi-doomed."

Kota and Yumi's head jerked to the left, their eyes widened as the two saw Myotismon's carriage disappear through the gate. "NO!" the two bolted forwards. "Get your undead ass back here!"

Victoria clenched her digivice, a deadly look in her eyes. "DIGIVOLVE!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

The two huge Digimon snarled down at the small group. Nanimon and the others all gulped as they slowly backed away.

"You guys still sure you want to fight?" Wolfmon growled menacingly as he stood between Dobermon and Kyubimon.

"M-Make for the hills!"

"Run for it!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Uh…" Nanimon backed away, his eyes wide with unease as the Digidestined all glared at him. "Eh heh…you're big! Anyone want a wrestling coach?"

"Hey!" Demidevimon yelped. "You can't quit!"

Nanimon whirled around to glare at him. "Think again twerp, when it comes to having my butt kicked I draw the line!"

"Like anything is going to stop us!" Yumi shouted as Kyubimon growled angrily and charged forwards.

"Don't let me stand in your way!" he replied as he bolted after the others.

Kota smirked as he cracked his knuckles, his red eyes now glowing an eerie orange. "You're MINE, bowling ball!"

"I'm outnumbered! Good help is so hard to find!"

"I am so going to enjoy seeing you squirm."

Demidevimon glared at him, his eyes shining slightly. "If you're trying to frighten me, it won't work!" he shrieked, even though fear actually overwhelmed him.

"You haven't dealt with me yet!" hissed a female voice.

Kota's eyes widened completely forgetting about her. "Crap!" he face-palmed with a groan.

"Kota, what's wrong?" Kiva questioned in confusion. A white flash of fur with purple markings streaked towards the group. It slammed a strong attack into both Sunflowmon and Kabuterimon, slamming them both down into the ground.

Kudamon giggled as she landed gracefully on to the ground before them. "That was TOO easy!"

Kisho gawked at it. "A…mini-fox?"

"What's that little runt doing?" Yukito muttered. "Go on! Shoo!"

Kota sweat dropped holding up a finger. "Uh…Yukito? You might not want to do that."

It was too late as a light shone around her as she digivolve, the blade like tail glowing in the light behind it. "Still underestimating my strength? Mach Dash!" she slashed her claws across Grizzlymon's face with great speed, leaving deep, nasty-looking gashes.

"Argh!"

"What the hell?" Mark exclaimed in disbelief, his eyes widening as he tried to take in what just happened.

"She can digivolve on demand?"

"Guys, meet Kudamon," Kota said with a sigh. "Well, Leppamon. The tail-blade has a mind of its own."

She growled at Kota as her eyes flickered back to Gaogamon, who charged forward with a growl. Smirking, she easily leapt out of his way, dodging every one of his attacks.

"Try this, you little twerp!" Sunflowmon hollered, launching thorns from her tail.

No luck on that one, with a snicker, Leppamon easily leapt out of the way and the thorns hit Gaogamon in the side, sending him crashing back to the ground with a whine.

"Kyubimon!"

Kyubimon snarled as she charged forward, Leppamon leapt to the side like she did the others. What she didn't calculate was Kyubimon's speed as she sank her teeth into her back.

"ARGH!"

Kyubimon shook Leppamon the way a dog would a chew toy before tossing her to the side, still snarling under her breath as Leppamon dedigivolved back to Kudamon.

"GUYS!" everyone whirled around to see Robert's eyes widen with horror. "The-The Gate! It's closing!"

"WHAT?" Sure enough, the two giant stone gates were slowly creaking shut again. "RUN!" Yumi screamed desperately, bolting forwards with the other close behind.

Kudamon snarled, her eyes narrowing down to furious slits as she slowly got to her feet. "I…don't…think so," she hissed. The bullet around her tail suddenly started to shine a brilliant shade of gold.

Eerie roars echoed on all sides of the group and the dragon statues slowly morphed into something more real. Stone became leathery, reptilian skin, and the next thing everyone knew they were surrounded by angry snarling Devidramon.

"Devidramon," Kudamon said smugly. "The Guardian of the Gate. If you want a real surprise, look into his eyes! You'll be hypnotized."

Victoria growled under her breath as she looked from side to side. "There's too many of them!"

"We have to go now before it's too late!" Yumi glanced desperately back at the Gate.

Grizzlymon snarled as he tackled one of the Devidramon, who angrily slashed razor-sharp talons at him. Grizzlymon managed to dodge unharmed.

"Crescent Moon!" he roared, as the moon symbol glowed and shot out a beam that struck the Devidramon right in the face.

Another one swooped down at him, and he whirled around to face it head on with a snarl. "NO WAIT!" Kyubimon and Wolfmon yelped. "Don't!"

The snarls of the Devidramon filled Yumi's ears as they circled around the Digimon, cutting them off from their partners, their eyes glowing an eerie shade of red.

"What the?"

"Guys," Kota kept my head down, not daring to look into their faces. "Whatever you do, don't look…"

"Ahh," Kota glanced quickly to his right before face-palming seeing the Digimon's heads were slumped downwards, oblivious to what was going on, they looked half-asleep.

"Oh son of a bitch!"

"YEAH!" Demidevimon cackled as the Devidramon swooped at the Digimon, one of them grabbing Wolfmon by the scruff and shaking him like a kitten.

'_NO!_' Kiva screamed bolting forward. _'Let him go! NOW!'_

Penguinmon glared at Demidevimon, stepping in front of his way just as the talking-bowling ball dove for the gate.

"Move it runt!" he snarled.

Penguinmon's amber eyes narrowed. "Ice Prism!" he spat angrily, freezing DemiDevimon's wings.

"This way!" Yumi shouted, grabbing Kiva by the hand and yanking her towards the Gate; just as a Devidramon swooped at them with a snarl, drooling hungrily.

Kyubimon's eyes snapped open at the sound of Victoria's scream; she charged forward with an angry roar. "Hey lizard breath! Over here!" She tackled the virus, the two of them wrestling desperately as they tried to sink their teeth into each other's necks.

"VICTORIA!" Robert shouted. "We have to go!"

Victoria just stood there, frozen, her eyes fixed on her Digimon, her fists clenched and shaking slightly.

"Go…through it!" Kyubimon groaned with the effort of forcing the dragon back.

Victoria's Crest burst into a midnight blue light that surrounded Kyubimon. "Kyubimon digivolve to…Taomon!"

"Go for it girl!" Victoria shouted, clutching her glowing Crest. "Teach him a lesson!"

"And you're coming with me!" Ember said wrapping her arms around Victoria's middle.

"Talisman of light!" Taomon yelled, producing a calligraphy brush and painted mystical symbols into the air. The symbols released beams of pure light energy towards the Devidramon. Their screams echoed loudly inside the basement.

"She did it!" James exclaimed. "It's a clear shot now!"

"Good. Move. Now. Please," Johnny said through clenched teeth.

"Agh!" Demidevimon screeched as Penguinmon slapped him. "Make him stop!" Kudamon rolled her eyes as she tackled Penguinmon to the side. "Ack!"

She giggled as she turned around to face the group with a smirk. "Sorry! You're too late! I'll miss you in Japan!"

"Kudamon, don't even THINK about it!" Kota shouted bolting forwards with Kiva, Yumi and Victoria.

It was too late; inches before anyone reached the door, the sliver left of an opening finally closed.

"Bye bye!" Kota heard her obnoxious voice call as the doors slammed shut.

"NO!" Yumi screamed, pounding her fist against the closed door, furious, desperately. "Open up! We can't all this to happen!"

**A/N: Here is the new chapter, I was going to be evil and splitting this chapter up into two parts, but I guess I didn't have to go those measures. What are everyone's thoughts of this chapter? I decided against having two Digimon going in due to the ghosts. As for Kota splitting up? He truly wanted to check up on Wizardmon and with Ember, it would be better. Oh and FYI, Yumi's glowing eyes, she's not normal, obviously. If you recall chapter 17 when her father gave her the wolf pendant, that is apart of her heritage. More explanation on that later.**

**Yumi: You made me sound like a heroine or something **

**Me: Hehe, sorry**


	40. When one door closes another shall open

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the wolves, Night oaths, White Hunter and Emotions Never tell lies for your wicked reviews. Here's some exciting news for you all, we are finally going back to the real world soon. Poor Kota won't be able to see his friends when they leave. Yes, it really is heart breaking. Just a reminder, once in the human world, it's going to be 14 days of fun times. Oh and a big thank you to Night oath, White Hunter and Black Prism of certain doom for your help in coming up with names for the new Digimon. Please know if I don't use the actual names that someone came up with, doesn't mean I am not using them, they might be used for another Digimon. Anyway, enjoy chapter 40.**

**Chapter 40**

**When one door closes another shall open**

The snarls of the Devidramon still echoed from outside, loud and angry as the group all gathered around, Yumi was still livid as she knelt on the damp grass, a hand still on her side ignoring the pain that radiated from her side.

"Myotismon has sealed the Gate shut," Gennai said heavily as everyone crowded around his hologram, the only light around them in the darkest of nights. "You can't possibly follow him now."

"No? You think? We don't need to be reminded yet again," Yumi snapped. "Why don't you help us to actually get through that blasted Gate! We can't possibly sit around and let the Tenth child be killed for our stupidity!"

"To make matters worse, to allow that blood sucking maniac wreck havoc in the city, thousands would be killed!" Victoria agreed.

"There needs to be some way to get that Gate open," James sighed as he looked at Gennai.

"Well of course there is!"

Yumi narrowed her eyes as she slowly looked up at Gennai with disbelief. "You're telling us this…NOW?" Yumi demanded her voice rough from the cold and exhaustion.

"How?" Tora asked, shooting Yumi a warning look. "Be polite."

"I promise nothing," Yumi muttered.

"Any door can be opened with the right keys," Gennai replied.

"Thank you, Mr. Fortune Cookie," Yumi muttered.

"Follow me to my house and I will explain everything."

Pupmon blinked from Kiva's arms. "Where exactly is that?"

He just smiled as his image started to fade slightly. "Look above you."

"What kind of directions are those? Look above you," Yukito scoffed.

"Very good ones," he replied, as his voice started to fade away. "If you just listen."

"Are you sure he's sane?" Ember whispered.

"This guy is wacko," Johnny agreed.

Yumi chuckled as she looked up at the sky ready to expect to see something but didn't have a clue what the geezer wanted them to be looking for.

"Keep looking, you'll find it."

Mark's eyes flickered back and forth trying so hard to find what he was talking about. It took him a while until something caught his eye. "There!" he exclaimed. "A search light!"

Sure enough, a small orb of light shone right above the light, its image reflected on the lake's surface as everyone gaze shifted to the lake. Yumi let out an irritated sigh as the ghosts stood there blinking.

"I ran out of maps," Gennai's voice ended. "Follow…the light…you can't miss…it…"

"Ugh, I am going to brain him."

Kota rolled his eyes at the old man's parlour tricks. Obviously he knew the way better then the others did. Everyone knew that he lived with him for years before being kidnapped by Myotismon. Over the years, Kota learned to tolerate him; he got use to it, just appreciating the company.

"Kota, exactly where is he hiding out?" Robert asked.

"Just watch," Kota sighed as the orb slowly descended into the deep water.

Mark, James, Johnny and Tora sweat dropped as Yukito face-palmed. "Are you telling me…it's not UNDER the lake is it?" Mark yelped.

"How exactly DID Myotismon's goons get you?" Kiva questioned.

"Um…sadly yes and they found ways, didn't help I went to explore."

"Oh, this is going to be fun. How come you never told us?"

"You don't ask, I don't tell."

Penguinmon let out a content sigh as he dove into the water. "Ahh, now this is what I'm talking about."

"He is by far easily amused," Shaomon said shaking his head.

"That's Penguinmon for you," Viximon grinned. Penguinmon just grinned as he poked his head out. "Come on in! The water's great!"

"I think I'll pass," Pupmon scoffed eyeing the water suspiciously.

Kota seemed to be in his own little world as he stared at the water waiting for something to happen. He was use to this type of thing, so nothing surprised him even when the water started to bubble before slowly pulling apart and a rocky path formed between the crests of waves with stairs going down it. Oh how he missed this place, he could remember on a daily routine going from Gennai's house to the stairs where he could watch the fish in amusement. (For a nine year old that meant a lot.)

"So this must lead to Gennai's house," Yukito said, a bit of awe in his voice.

"Let's not waste time, sooner we get down there, the sooner we can get answers," Yumi insisted moving toward the stairs.

"By all means, lead the way," Kota muttered.

Kiva let out a shudder as the rush of water roared above the group. _'This would have been so much better if we didn't have to deal with water.'_

"Yumi wait up!" Victoria called running after her friend, Viximon in her arms.

Kisho was mesmerized as he glanced to his left and right. The curtains of water on either side shimmered with purple light, as fish of all colors and shapes swam next to the group. "Kota, I am so jealous that you got to see this daily."

"He, trust me, when you're bored, this actually becomes a source of entertainment."

"If anyone wants sushi," Tora commented hopefully. "Now's our chance!"

Viximon, Pupmon and Shaomon drooled at the thought. "Yum…sushi!"

Victoria gave Viximon a look. "Don't even think about it."

"Thought about it, in my head." Victoria bonked her on the head as she shook her own head.

"Hey Kota, is that it?" James asked peering through the steam rising up ahead of them.

"That it is," Kota replied, as a dark shadow loomed up ahead of the group before slowly forming into what looked like a small Japanese house. The house had all softly colours to it with a brown roof, clear peach coloured walls. The front side was decorated with a beautiful small lake, a fountain playing softly in the middle of it.

"Just as I remember it," Kota said as most of the others let out gasps of amazement.

"This place looks incredible."

"Pleased to see you like it children," a soft chuckle echoed.

Everyone whirled around to see Gennai standing there smiling at the group with his hands behind his back.

"It's good to see you again, Gennai," Kota greeted a smile forming on his face.

"GENNAI!" the rest screamed, excluding Yumi, Victoria, Kisho and Kiva as the four blocked their ears.

"You all definitely don't need a doorbell," he sighed, wincing slightly at the shouts, murderous looks came across the chaos triplets and Kota. "I'm glad to see you are safe and sound once more Kota."

"Likewise, I thought I would never get out of there."

"So this is why we never got to see you in person?" Yukito asked.

"Precisely, I needed to keep track of where Kota was and Kiva; you must realize that we had to keep everything secret for the time being."

Kiva nodded her head simply while Yumi looked at him, something in the back of her mind indicating that something was off. "What kind of person are you…or is there something more to you?" she asked folding her arms.

Gennai merely chuckled. "That is not important."

"…or you don't wish to tell," she muttered.

"HOW COME YOU CALL US THE DIGIDESTINED?" Tora raised her voice to a scream nearly deafening the chaos triplets and Kota in the process.

"Yes, I didn't need my eardrums at all," Yumi hissed, clasping her hands over her ears. "You do that one more time and I'll gag you. UNDERSTAND?"

Tora physically flinched away from Yumi taking her threats seriously. "Sorry."

Gennai winced as well as he stuck his finger into his ear and scratched it a bit. "Easy! I'm old, not deaf!" he took a deep breath. "Anyway, you kids were chosen to help protect the Digital World. And your own."

"Gennai, I still don't get it. Why was I even called upon. I have no need to be here," Kota asked cutting off Yumi, whom looked like she was ready to have a conniption fit or something. "Is there some known reason for me to be brought here?"

"In due time those questions will be answered. Because you are only here mentally and not physically…what I mean by that is that, while you are still in your coma, you are not a full out Digidestined."

"Oh, that just makes me feel SO much better."

"So there's no way he could possibly be the tenth child?" James asked.

"No, for the time being, he is here due to the Digital world opening up the first time and bringing him here, sadly on the subconscious part."

"Explain something to me then, why would I be sent to the Digital World if my partner is nowhere to be found? Was it all some big ass joke or was I not meant to come to the Digital World in the first place?"

"Oh…it's a long story. Never mind that! You kids must be tired and hungry…in order to get ready to travel to your own world and save the tenth child…"

"Or you want to ignore the bloody question all together," Yumi mumbled rolling her eyes as everyone followed Gennai through the screen doors. Victoria and Viximon stood on either side of her, hand and paw on either shoulder.

"You'll find your answers soon," Viximon reassured.

"I hope so," Yumi groaned as the three made their way toward the house.

"Food!" Tora squealed happily as Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Kota and their Digimon joined the group who were all gathered around Gennai's dinner table. The scent wafted towards the group in a tempting manner.

Yumi rolled her eyes at Tora. Honestly, was food the only th…her stomach growled loudly as the scent of steamed halibut reached her nose. Oh hell no, her mouth started watering like crazy at the sight. So perhaps she ignored her hunger far too long, she had only eaten what she could scour or what lingered in her bad.

James blinked with confusion as everyone all drooled hungrily. "Aren't…aren't those salt water fish. I don't…"

Victoria and Yumi let out low growls of his questioning of a good thing. Yumi made a mimicking noise as she mentally strangled the boy.

"Quite right!" Gennai chuckled. "So I feed them pretzels…popcorn…"

"…" Yukito turned his attention to Kota slightly confused. "Is he actually being serious or is he messing with us?"

Kota face-palmed letting out a small groan, he knew that the man loved to say the most incredulous and oddest things on the planet. "You don't want to know, let's put it that way."

Gennai cleared his throat to get their attention as he yanked down a screen, which displayed a black screen. "Now with a look at the weather-State…" the screen zoomed on a small island to the right, enlarging it. "County…City…" he pointed at a small flashing red dot at the top of the island. "Anyone recognize this place?"

Victoria's eyes widened at the sight as they threatened to pop out of their sockets. "Is that…our home town?"

Gennai nodded. "And see this flashing red dot? That's Myotismon's location."

"WHAT?"

Yumi chocked on her water after inhaling it and coughing up the rest. "He's WHERE?!"

Mark's face went ash white; everyone couldn't suppress their shaking either from anger or absolute fear. Tora was close to tears. "He's only a mile from where we live."

"I'm afraid so," Gennai said softly.

Victoria balled up her fists as she let out a growl. "If he goes downtown…oh my…crap."

In the busy streets in the human world, bustling with activity, only a small collection of construction workers seemed to have stopped and had a look of total confusion on their face.

"Find anything?" one of the construction workers asked, frowning slightly as the ladder of the truck was lowered.

He shook his head, completely mystified. "I don't know…cable's fine."

"So what's causing all this interference?"

Neither of them noticed the dark shadow playing down from above them. Myotismon chuckled cruelly as he stood on top of the roof, his army crowded around him, their eyes shining a malevolent red.

Yumi narrowed her eyes at the old man. "Gennai, you need to tell us how to open that Gate. Now!"

Gennai just shook his head at her need to rush. "Calm down my young friend." Gennai held out a handful of very similar looking cards.

"No freaking way!"

Kota flipped one of the cards over, on the back showed an image of Labramon. "What…are these?"

"Check this out!" Kisho gasped as he looked at one card of Leomon.

"The detail is incredible," Robert marvelled, looking over his shoulder.

"Meh…" Viximon snorted seeing her rookie form. "I'm cuter in person."

Yumi snorted rolling her eyes staring at Gennai. "What in the world do you expect us to do with these exactly?"

"Think about it," Gennai smiled slightly. "There are nine holes on the Pedestal-"And nine cards!" Robert exclaimed finally getting it.

Gennai chuckled at his excitement. "Exactly! However…take a closer look and tell me what the problem is."

The group looked on in shock as they finally noticed the cards completely. Robert's eyes widened. "You've given us one too many cards!"

"Mm-hmm. One of those cards is a fake."

Yumi twitched in annoyance. "You really love to get under our skin don't you?"

"Not quite," he sighed. "It was designed to fool anyone else who tried to get through the Gate." The chaos triplets and Kota face-palmed.

Everyone sighed as they all sat there gazing down at the cards on the table trying to figure out the secret behind them.

"Oh yeah, so what do you plan for us to do? Keep trying different combinations until we get it right?" shot Yumi flipping one of the cards.

"NOOOOO!" Gennai yelled.

Yumi yelped as Gennai grabbed her by the neck, half-throttling her as she grabbed on to his wrist.

"That is NOT the answer you imbecile girl!" he snarled, tightening his grip. "That's the absolute LAST thing you EVER DO! If you put the wrong cards in the wrong holes it would be a disaster! You could end up stuck in another world with no way to get out!"

"Gennai, for god sakes, she can't BREATHE!" Victoria yelped as Yumi's face started to go blue as she tried to claw at his hands.

"Let her go before her trachea collapses!" Yukito yelped.

Gennai cleared his throat after finally releasing Yumi, who collapsed onto his chair gasping for air. Victoria rushed to Yumi's side placing her hand on her friend's arm concerned for her friend's well being. "Let me explain. The wrong cards might send you to a world, where, for example, Digimon and human switched skin!" Kiva and Kota narrowed their eyes at Tora who was close to breaking down and freaking out. Tora caught the glares and shrunk back refusing to utter any sound.

"Don't worry!" Gennai reassured. "No one is going to take your skin! As long as you learn how to use the cards correctly."

Yukito pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pray tell how do we manage that? We hardly have any idea what to do!"

"You must learn to use your power the way Myotismon is using his. Tomorrow I'll teach you the proper use of the cards."

"But-"No buts. All of you get some rest."

Yumi was restless as she tossed and turned hours later while everyone slept peacefully. For once in the entire time they were there in the Digital World, there was no need to have someone on watch. One of the other realizations, Gennai's floor was strangely comfortable compared to any places the group ended up sleeping.

Sitting bolt up right, Yumi placed a hand on her racing heart as she breathed heavily. It had been weeks, months since the nightmares occurred again. Since starting the adventure and some time prior camp, nightmares have plagued her mind over and over again. It started with her father leaving, to the abuse at home to not having her Digimon. What bothered her the most was seeing a shadowy figure in her dreams that represented her Digimon but she could never see his face.

Looking around at the peaceful, sleeping group, Yumi let out a sigh as she got to her feet. After two weeks of having Kisho sleeping with her, she finally had her space returned to her. Victoria on the other hand was subjected to keeping the boy close. The two didn't mind being with him, Yumi just appreciated her space. Ember and Johnny weren't too far away, Johnny was slumped against the wall, and Ember was resting her head on his lap. It was amazing how well people could fall asleep with ease. Yumi envied all of them for their peaceful dreams.

Quietly as she could, Yumi made her way outside of the house into the little garden. She shivered as a cold breeze drifted through the slightly open door. With a sigh, she tip toed outside, wincing slightly as her toes touched cold stone. She marvelled at the cold night sky, gazing up at the twinkling stars. Her mind filled with many a thought of what it would be like if things had been different in the long run. She needed to push those negative thoughts from her mind. That was her problem when it came to splitting from the group before; she couldn't control her negativity. Her hand subconsciously went up to grasp on to both her wolf pendant and Crest of Wisdom. The pendant felt oddly warm in her hand where normally it would be cold to touch.

She made her way toward the small lake and sat on the stone edges gazing out at the pristine water, the stars reflecting on the surface. The breeze blew through her sending another wave of chills down her spine but ignored the cold as she slipped into her own thoughts once again.

Inside, Kota opened his scarlet red eyes, fully waking up out of annoyance. He hated the fact that his body refused to sleep longer than a few hours. He didn't know if it was due to being there in a spiritual state or being stuck in the dungeon of Myotismon's castle and the fear of sleep spoke volumes. Sighing, he say up trying to think of anyway to help falling asleep again or at least able to relax his body.

However, something inside him seemed to be bothering him over what Gennai said to him. He wasn't fully a Digidestined. What the hell did that mean? It wasn't his fault that the Digital World called on him, even if it were by accident. He let out a sigh as he got to his feet and went to go stroll around to clear his mind. He raised his eyebrow noticing the empty spot next to Victoria and Viximon.

"Now where did she go?"

Curiously, Kota disappeared from the room in search of Yumi. He tip toed over Kiva and Tora, making his way to the sliding door leading outside. He shivered as the wind hit his bare arms through the barely open door. Ignoring it, he opened the door more and stepped outside as quiet as he could. He let out a soft hiss as his bare feet met the cold stone. It should never affect him that much, but he guessed that after being away from his cell things changed.

As he expected, there sitting in a meditative position by the lake facing the fountain, was Yumi, herself. Her eyes were closed and her body seemed to look at peace for once. Her chest rose and fell softly with each breath she took. Kota was amazed to see how tranquil and at peace she could be. Quietly and carefully Kota made his way to Yumi's side. He didn't want to know what the outcome would be for scaring her in this state.

"Yumi?"

Yumi opened her eyes wide as she spun around letting out a low warning growl. Her eyes flashing a gold colour as if she were ready to attack. Kota raised his arms in surrender afraid that she would kill him in a heartbeat. Seeing that it was Kota standing there, Yumi let out a breath as she calmed down, eyes returning to normal. "Hey," she replied melancholy.

"What are you doing out here?" Kota asked sitting next to her.

"I could ask you the same thing," she muttered rubbing her face.

"Couldn't sleep, and apparently, neither can you."

"This nightmare keeps playing over and over again. It's the same one I had before coming here till it changed into dealing with my dreams taunting me with my Digimon."

"You are lucky to have something to look forward to."

"Yes, the phantom dot that randomly appears then disappears once I get there."

"Trust me when I say, you have to be patient and let things happen. In time he'll appear to you," Kota promised, he hated the fact that he couldn't say anything to Yumi about Wizardmon and the truth. All he could do was make promises.

"You sound so confident in that. In any case, in due time, you will have your answers and come join us. Don't think I don't understand what it's like, trust me, I do."

"How long…"

"Since we got here. I never realized that there just might be a chance that I might not belong."

Kota grabbed on to her Crest and held it in front of her. "If you didn't belong here, then the Digital World would never have given you this or your Digivice. There might be some other reason that you don't know that is causing your Digimon to be separate from you."

Yumi blinked at him, stunned by his words and slightly confused by the last statement he made. "Kota…is there something you know that I don't?"

Kota had to bite his lip; he promised Wizardmon the first time he found out about Yumi being his partner that no matter what, he wouldn't tell a soul. Right now he could see how much pain she really was in and needed that reassurance. "I promise there is nothing…I just…only time will reveal itself to you."

"Kota, you're a good kid, confusing and cryptic but a good kid."

"He said the same thing," Kota muttered under his breath.

"I just hope that in time I can be proven wrong."

"You'll just have to wait and see. Now come on, let's go back inside," Kota replied extending his hand to her. Respectfully, Yumi took it and pulled herself up and followed him back into the house. To their amazement, everyone was still sound asleep.

Morning came at an ungrateful speed, awakening the children out of their slumber. Kota and Yumi were the last to wake up, their late night chat outside actually tuckered out their active minds. Victoria and Kiva looked at each other trying to figure out what to do, should they be nice to let them sleep a bit longer, or wake them up in a rude manner?

**Kiva: I'm not THAT suicidal!**

**Victoria: Oh and you think I am?**

"Bonzai!" Viximon yelled jumping on Yumi's stomach.

"Who the hell?" Yumi yelped waking up startled looking at Viximon venomously.

"Rise and shine sleepy head!"

"Victoria, did you give Viximon sugar again?"

"Nope."

"Too bloody perky for my liking."

"Wow James," Tora said in disgust after Yumi and Kota finally woke from their slumbers and gathered around the breakfast table with the rest. "Why don't you eat the bones as well?"

James blushed slightly, half a fish hanging out of his mouth. "Hey! I was hungry!"

Yumi rolled her eyes as she sipped her tea as the sliding door behind them creaked open. "Good morning all!" Gennai said cheerfully as he strolled in, toting Robert's laptop under one arm.

"Too cheery…way to cheery," groaned Yumi.

"Hey Gennai!"

"What's with her?" asked Yukito concerned.

"Lack of sleep."

Gennai smiled holding out the laptop to Robert. "I completed the modifications for your computer. When you insert someone's Digivice into this adapter, the analyzer will show information on any Digimon that person has seen."

"Greatly appreciated Gennai."

He chuckled before clearing his throat as he went to address the group. "Actually, I have a request for all of you. Do not EVER forget that you are the Digidestined. Yumi and Kota, that goes for you two."

Kota and Yumi nodded silently unsure if they wanted to actually believe that or not. James on the other hand groaned as he doubled over. "Well I'll never forget this stomach ache!"

Victoria rolled her eyes before slapping him upside the head. "That's what you get for eating what? A dozen fish! Bones and all!"

Tora sighed shaking her head. "Be serious you two."

Victoria blinked taken aback. "Me be serious? I am nothing BUT serious."

Gennai smiled slightly before sighing. "I have done all I can do, once you re-enter Myotismon's castle, I can no longer help you. Good luck. Kota, stay safe,"

"Will I be allowed to go through the Gate when it's open?"

"Sadly no, you won't be able to return, it's only until your physical body wakens."

After gathering their belongings and refilling up on provisions, the group left the house waving after Gennai and making their way to the castle once again. Yumi had an unsettling feeling in her stomach as the group stood on the rocky mountain path, gazing up at the castle. "Is it just me or is this place even creepier than last time?"

"That castle brings out all the horrible feelings, regardless if it's empty or not," Kota replied.

The snarls of the Devidramon bounced off the mountain's sides, Viximon's eyes narrowed as her ears twitched. "They have our scent."

Robert bit his lip anxiously. "Great. Exactly how do we get past them?"

"Leave that to me!" Tentomon flew forward. "I'll take them out while you guys sneak in!"

"Go for it!" Yumi hissed.

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Kabuterimon digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!"

Sure enough, the loud noise and light was enough to send the Devidramon swooping out of the castle doors, screeching angrily as they shot towards MegaKabuterimon.

"Now's our chance!" Robert exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon roared, an electrical force of energy forming at the tip of horn before he launched it at the closes Devidramon.

The resulting explosion seemed to shake the ground, and Tora stumbled as we leapt across broken steps into the entrance.

"Keep moving!" James exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her to her feet.

"So much for a quiet entrance," Robert panted, as the screeches and roars followed them down the hall.

"HORN BUSTER!"

Yumi screamed as the ground this time literally DID move underneath their feet; she could feel herself tumbling through the air for a moment as she flailed to hold on to something, Ember and Johnny were in the air floating there. Johnny grabbed hold of Yumi's waist holding her close, Ember was holding on to Kiva and Kota's wrists. Victoria on the other hand groaned as her head was slammed down onto the ground. She slowly opened her eyes, still aching, Renamon on her other side. Victoria let out a gasp as she spotted a torch burning the right side up.

"How the?"

"Help!" squealed a high-pitched voice before a little pink blob came tumbling out of the sky towards them.

"Motimon!" Robert gasped, leaping forward to catch him in his arms.

He winced, his body full of cuts and scrapes before slowly opening his eyes. "What…what happened Robert?"

Robert smiled as he looked around him. "It's all right; you fixed the warp in the programming! Everything's back in place!"

Kota looked around at the way everything was, it was the exact same way like he remembered it. At the moment that didn't matter, what mattered right now was to get to the Gate.

"Let's keep moving!" Yumi shouted, after being placed on to the ground gently. "There's no time to waste."

The cavern at the bottom of the castle was completely still and silent as the group returned to the area a few minutes later thanks to the ghosts. The Gate doors looming ominously over them, as if daring them to just try and open them.

Yumi sighed as she pulled out the cards from a side pocket on her bag. "What kind of patterns could there possibly be?"

Everyone stood in a circle, staring at the cards for a few minutes. One by one someone would move them around; others picked them up with a blank look. Yumi's glare ended up being a death glare of annoyance.

"I got…absolutely nothing," Kota finally said several minutes later holding the Centuramon card.

"Let's see," James mused as he placed a couple down in a row. "Good one…bad one…funky one?"

"Somehow I seriously…SERIOUSLY doubt that's how it goes," Yumi sighed.

"Well, at least it's a try."

Yukito hesitated as he took his own try. "Perhaps In-Training, Rookie, or Champion?"

Mark groaned with frustration. "For all we know, it could just be small one, medium one, or big one! How can we be sure? And we still have no clue which one is the fake!"

"Could it be where they live?" Tora suggested. "Like water or land!"

"Or maybe it's type…" Victoria wondered. "Vaccine…virus…data?"

Robert traced one of the carvings on the side. "I know some of these characters…" he murmured. "Sagittarius and Leo are signs of the Zodiac but there's no monkey that I know of."

Shaomon growled slightly all of a sudden, his ears pinned back in warning.

"What's that sound?" Kisho asked nervously looking around anxiously.

Kiva perked her head up, hearing a noise in the distance. The sound was a groan like noise that sounded as if the castle itself was moaning in pain.

"Should someone go check it out?" Kota asked a note of nervousness in his tone as he looked side to side.

"I'll go do it!" Shaomon suggested running off down the hallway.

"Wait for me!" Pupmon called out bounding after him.

Victoria and Kota placed their hands on Kiva's shoulder as her eyes followed him. She wondered why he would take off, instead of staying. Perhaps there was something more to it then they were letting on. "Worry about it later. We need to figure out the Cards!"

"What's the point?" moped James. "We'll never get it open."

"Oh listen to Mr. Positivist," Yumi muttered. "Don't even say that!" she snapped.

"It's the truth though! Even if we put the cards in the holes so they look right, we'll never know for sure till it's too late!"

Yumi narrowed her eyes at him as she smacked him upside the head. "Got any other ideas? We HAVE to try James!"

The ground shook again, louder and stronger this time. Yumi narrowed her eyes as she looked around. "I don't think we are going to have a lot of time to fool around."

Pupmon and Shaomon ran down the hallway as fast as their little legs could carry them. The rumbling sound grew louder and louder the further the two continued down the hall. A small explosion sounded somewhere above their heads, echoing over the walls. Shaomon barely managed to grab Pupmon's scruff of his neck and pulled him back as stone ceiling cracked then fell to the ground with an earth-shattering shudder.

Both coughed, desperately trying to clear the dust from their throats. When their image finally cleared rubble and boulders blocked the hallway completely. Pupmon and Shaomon looked at each other with uneasy looks. By the look of the shuddering walls, the ceiling wouldn't be the last thing to collapse.

"Oh this can't be good."

Both turned back and raced toward the group. "Guys! GUYS!"

"Huh?" Gaomon blinked as the two young Digimon raced back into the room breathing heavily. "Shaomon? Pupmon? What's wrong?"

Shaomon panted. "T-the walls! And the ceiling! They're collapsing! We can't get back!"

"WHAT?!"

"So we're trapped down here," Victoria said grimly. "Unless we can get the Gate open."

"We just have to do it." Robert insisted. "One of us has to choose nine cards, put them in the holes, and that'll be that!"

"Yumi, it's your call."

"Whoa, excuse me?" Yumi spun around to face Yukito apprehensively. "Me? Why me?"

Yukito nodded as Victoria placed her hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, it's your call."

She visibly flinched giving the two a look of uncertainty. "Pray tell, out of the entire group, you choose me?"

"It's not like we're trying to put you on the spot or anything," Kiva explained. "We have a lot of faith in you Yumi."

"You all say you have faith in me…"

"Yukito, Kiva and Victoria are right, in times like these, decisions need to be made by the one in charge," Mark insisted, his eyes flashing as he cut her off.

"Have you guys lost it?" Yumi yelped. "In what way, with all my problems, issues, and dysfunctional, makes me a leader?"

"Regardless of all that, it's because of those things that make you a leader. True, I never saw you as a leader but that's all changed, you've proven yourself. Regardless how you act, you always came back to help us."

"Yumi, look around, you need to stop your doubting! So knock it off!" Kota said in exasperation glaring at her. "You are the leader Yumi that IS your job; it has always been your job. That is why you were given the Crest of Wisdom in the first place."

Yumi stared at them, blinking in confusion and unable to speak. Her mouth would open but no sound would escape. After a bit of doing a fish out of water thing, she let out a sigh. "All right, all right. I'll try."

"We knew you could," Victoria replied wrapping her arms around her friend.

Yumi smiled at her, relaxing into the hug just feeling overwhelmed. When she broke from the hug, she turned back to the Gate, ignoring the group for a moment. "So whatever decision I make, you'll accept it?"

"Yes!"

"Well…I decided I want Robert to do this."

Robert's eyes widened as he stepped forward, pointing a finger at her chest. "You want me?"

"I wouldn't trust anyone else with this sort of thing. I asked a long time ago to help with something with the Digivices. I trust you."

"What if I'm wrong? Yumi that was just programs I figured out. This is completely new to me."

"You are the right one for the job Robert."

Robert hesitated again before sighing and strolling back over to the pedestal, tracing a finger over the rough stone. "I still have no idea how to make this work."

"Maybe you could use your computer to figure it out!" Motimon piped up, gazing up at him.

"That… could…" he kept muttering to himself as he opened the lid and pressed several keys. Yukito just stood there watching him, eyes rolling at the usual fading away look. "Wait a sec…"

"Robert?"

"Anyone here met up with Gekomon or Digitamamon?" he asked suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Ahem…I have," Victoria replied raising her hand a little uncaring.

"Let me see your Digivice." Robert inserted her Digivice into the slot on the computer and slowly grinned at the images that flickered before him. Victoria and Yumi knelt next to him curious of what he discovered. "Excellent!"

"You figured it out?" Yumi asked.

"I think I might have," Robert pointed at the screen, which was flashing images of several different Digimon. "The first three; the lion, the archer, and the monkey would be Leomon, Centuramon, and Etemon. In addition, there is one of each classification; Data, virus, and vaccine. The stars at the top represent how powerful each Digimon is; In-Training, Rookie, Champion. So now we can put all the cards in the right squares!"

"You did it Robert!" Yukito exclaimed hugging him from behind and kissing the top of his head. "We knew you could do it!"

"Perfect!" Yumi grinned. "Only problem, there are two more cards here and we have no way of knowing which one is the fake."

"At least we got this far…" James said with a slight smile.

Kota raised an eyebrow. "James, for once I think that is the most positive thing I've ever heard you say."

"Hey!"

Victoria looked at Yumi. "You can pick the right one."

"Hee…right."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a low, angry growl echoed throughout the basement, sending shivers down Kota's spine. This cannot mean anything good.

Viximon looked around warily. "What was?" her blue eyes widened as she looked up at the ceiling. "LOOK OUT!"

"Huh?"

Kota's eyes darted to the ceiling and gasped as a huge, hairy spider shot down at us, fangs dripping venom, all of her red eyes wild. "MOVE IT!" Kota roared, slamming Kiva to the side. Victoria felt her eyes widened as she shoved Yumi to the ground as well seeing the huge thing.

"WHAT IS THAT THING?" Tora shrieked, her fear overwhelming her. She was not a huge fan of spiders; she had a high fear of any spider in general.

"Dokugumon," Kota muttered keeping Kiva close to the ground. "We're in big trouble."

"Intruders in the castle must be destroyed!" Dokugumon shrieked, glaring at the group. "Destroy!"

"AHHHHHH!" Tora cringed behind James as what looked like smaller spiders spilled out from the web and scrambled towards them.

"Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!"

"Lalamon digivolve to…Sunflowmon!"

"Bearmon digivolve to…Grizzlymon!"

Both Gaogamon and Grizzlymon growled as both a tornado appeared in Gaogamon's mouth and the beam began to glow brightly on Grizzlymon's forehead. "Crescent Moon!" Grizzlymon roared sending out a strong beam of light toward the on coming spiders.

"Penguinmon help them out!" Yukito insisted looking at his Digimon as he pulled Robert out of the way.

"Penguinmon digivolve to…Dolphmon!"

"Dolph blast!"

"Sunshine Beam!"

"Victoria WATCH OUT!" Mark shouted as one of the Dokugumon lunged at her, fangs bared and ready to sink into her neck as she went to stand up.

She gasped just as Viximon sprang forward. "Viximon digivolve to…Renamon!"

"Diamond Storm!" she shouted, blue shards darting toward them, cutting the Dokugumon away.

"Great timing!" Victoria grinning with relief, hiding the fact her heart was racing a mile a minute.

Another rumble shook the castle, Victoria, Kiva and Kota cringed looked up at the ceiling, which was starting to form long cracks. "Guys! We HAVE to go!" Kota yelled.

"I can't decide!" Yumi said frantically, looking between the Renamon and Labramon cards in her hands. "If I choose wrong, we are toast!"

"We're toast anyway!" Kota exclaimed back as Gaomon howled in agony, Dokugumon's fangs burying into his back. "Hurry it up already!"

Yumi clenched her teeth in frustration. "For once, I don't know what to do."

"Poison Cobweb!" Dokugumon hissed, purple, acid looking threads flying from her mouth that wrapped themselves around the other Digimon choking them.

"GAOGAMON!" Mark screamed his eyes wide with horror as he watched his Digimon thrash wildly.

Shaomon growled as he stood protectively in front of Kisho as the other Digimon were getting hurt. "He needs to digivolve again!"

Mark kept his eyes focused on his Digimon as his Crest burst into a dark grey light. Gaogamon growled again as his whole body was covered with golden light. "Gaogamon digivolve to…MachGaogamon!"

MachGaogamon stood on stood on two legs, both his forearms and lower parts of his legs were robotic. He had a red belt crossing his upper body. On his back was a rocket pack. "Gaoga tornado!" A tornado surrounded Dokugumon and fired off continuous super high speed blows. The thread broke releasing the other Digimon who collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Yumi, listen to me, there is something I need to tell you about your Digimon…" Kota said knowing that he wanted to inform her before they went back to the real world. He knew she would be relieved to know and hopefully give her the confidence to decide. Sadly he was cut off by Mark's shouting. "Yumi, you need to make up your mind NOW!" Matt shouted, watching as his Digimon forced Dokugumon back. "We're out of time!"

Yumi looked between the two unsure who to listen to as she clenched her teeth before slapping the Labramon card down. "You're the one…open the Gate!"

It glowed a bright blue as everyone all stared at the Gate, hoping, praying.

"It's opening!" Kiva gasped.

Sure enough, the Gates were slowly creaking open revealing a bright light on the other side. Kota's words were lost to Yumi's ears as excitement coursed through her body.

"Yes! Yes!" Yumi shouted triumphantly. "Let's get a move on!"

"Leave him and come on!" Mark ordered MachGaogamon.

"You'll never get out of here in once piece!" Dokugumon snarled.

Gaogamon punched his metal fists into Dokugumon one more time. "Winning knuckle!"

Her screams echoed in my Kota's as the Digidestined went through the Gate. Kiva, Yumi, Ember, Victoria and Johnny remained behind for a bit. "Kiva, I can't go back with you, please understand that. I promise though, our paths will cross again," Kota explained hugging her.

"I understand I just wish that you would be awake in the real world."

"If only," Kota smiled. "You need to go; I'll close the Gates while you get to safety."

"In time we'll be together," Kiva promised giving him a hug before picking Pupmon up in her arms and went through the Gate.

"Come on, we better get going as well," Victoria said placing a hand on Yumi's shoulder.

"Wait," Kota held out his hand, Yumi turned around just as Victoria, Renamon and Johnny went through the Gate, Ember remained in the air. "Before you leave, there is something I wan to tell you about your Digimon."

"My Digimon? What are you talking about?"

"Yumi, we have to go!" Ember said.

"Just a minute."

Behind them the door began to close, threatening to block the two in the Digital World permanently. Kota held Renamon's card in his hand ready to give it to her as an uneasy look came over him. He knew that regardless of Wizardmon's request to keep quiet, Kota thought it would be a nicer outlook to give her and have something to look forward to in the real world.

"I just wanted to let you know, your Digimon is…"

Ember didn't have time to waste, she needed to get Yumi to safety, and she grabbed her by the waist. "We have to move. Kota, awesome to have met you. Hopefully we can meet up later on."

Kota held out the card to Yumi just as she was being pulled through the Gate, the distance becoming greater and greater. "Your Digimon is Wiz…" Kota's voice became muffled as Yumi and Ember went through the portal. Kota felt his heart drop unsure if she could hear the name. Turning back to the Pedestal, he collected the cards after closing the Gate and made his way back to Gennai's.

**A/N: -Gasp- Is it…can it be? Yes it can! After the long awaited time, the Digidestineds are finally in the real World! Here comes the fun, be warned there will be some chapters that will be dark and abusive. I will keep you all informed on those ones. So sadly yes, they have to wait until later to see Kota.**


	41. Coming Home

**A/N: You****'****ve all been asking you****'****ve all been waiting. The group is now in the real world. As usual, thank you to San Child of the wolves, Night****'****s Oath and Emotion****'****s Never tell lies for your reviews. To answer some questions, Wizardmon will meet Yumi much later. That doesn****'****t mean her Digivice won****'****t go off locating him. And something different that I****'****m going to do with this is each chapter while in the Real World is going to have a date on it. Enjoy my lovelies.**

**Chapter 41**

**Coming Home!**

******Aug. 1****st**** (Mid morning)**

Yumi screamed as she fell head over heels, everything spinning around her in a mad rush of colour. There was no sign of her friends around; even the ghosts seemed to have disappeared. She felt alone as she was pulled through the strange place. Yumi felt as though her insides were being torn apart. She thrashed wildly, kicking outwards; her body seemed to be being squeezed from all sides. Finally, everything went dark, a great welcome relief.

Just like the first day in the Digital World, Yumi felt a strong impact on the ground minutes later. She lay flat on her stomach, her head turned to the right as she tried to get over the pain that coursed through her entire body once more.

"V? Victoria?" Yumi called out in a strained voice, her world was dark, refusing to open her eyes in fear of passing out. She forced herself up to her knees to no avail. She felt her body fall back to the solid earth. Her eyes flickered open as she felt something cold and wet seeping against her abdomen, something else fell against her back, soaking her to her skin.

"What?" Reaching out with one hand and grabbing what felt like a white, powdery substance. Snow? Wait a minute…snow? Wasn't it snowing at the camp?

"Ugh…" a familiar female groan to the right of her caught her attention. Ignoring the pain and disregarding the cold, wet feeling on her body, Yumi forced herself off her stomach and on to her feet and frantically searched for her friend. "Victoria!"

There she lay, not four feet from her, a long cut on her cheek, on her back, perfectly still. Fear formed over her at the thought of her friend dead. Her eyes were closed in a state of either rest of death; her chest at the first glance was still.

"VICTORIA!" Yumi scrambled over to her, falling to her knees, she leaned over her and pressed a hand to her chest, praying to feel a heart beat. Come on, please, PLEASE. Sure enough, under her hand was a heart beat, even though faint.

Victoria groaned as her eyes flickered open to see a very frantic Yumi. "Yumi?"

Yumi let out a sigh of relief as she placed her head on her friend's chest looking at her. "Please stop scaring me like this." Victoria chuckled as she placed a hand on her head.

Tora's gasps brought them to their sense, lifting their heads to face her; there was a realization right there and then that something was oddly familiar about their location. Tora's eyes filling with tears as her gaze flickered around the area before them. "It seriously…can't be, can it?" Tora gasped.

"We really are back in the real world!" Victoria said sitting up with the help of Yumi.

Kiva sat up a few feet from Yumi and Victoria, snow completely covering her. Back? Were they truly back? She looked around and her eyes widened. From what she could tell, they were sitting on top of a snow covered mountain. Small wooden cabins surrounded them on each side. A snowflake fell from the sky and landed on the tip of her nose.

No one could believe their eyes, it was impossible; it was almost as if they were dreaming. Sadly, it was a mix between which one exactly was the dream and which one was real. As of right now, the group was home. The Digidestined all stood back at the campsite just outside the forest. Nearly everyone's jaws dropped open as their eyes popped.

"I…I can't believe it. It's the summer camp!" James gasped, scrambling to his feet. "Yumi, you did it. We're back home again!"

"It feels so strange to be back. Especially after all that," Kisho piped up.

Yukito frowned suddenly looking around the group expecting to see their friends there. Only an empty spot remained in front of them. An uneasy feeling came over his stomach thinking the worst. "Hold on…where are the Digimon?"

"Viximon!" Victoria gasped, her heart seeming to turn to lead. "Where—she can't just be gone!"

'_Pupmon? Please answer me!__'_ Kiva desperately called out.

There was silence that made her fear for her life, her heart raced with dread of the lose of her Digimon.

"I wonder if we got the cards wrong after all." Robert bit his lip, unease in his eyes as Yukito held him close.

Staring down at the knees, Tora whimpered slightly. "So in this world, we could be without them."

Yumi bit her tongue, trying not to say anything to them for not having their Digimon. She so wanted to say, 'now you know how I feel' but couldn't find it in her heart to do so. At least this way they had an understanding of what she was going through.

"Do you truly think any of you can get rid of us?" Shaomon asked.

Everyone whirled around to see the Digimon standing there smiling at them, a huge pile of food lying in front of them.

'_We wanted to surprise you,__'_ Pupmon said running up to Kiva who held her arms out.

Victoria sighed in relief and wrapped her arms around Renamon's waist after she went over to her. "I will never leave you, understand that." Without thinking twice, Renamon pulled Yumi into an embrace as well, knowing the girl was feeling left out. Yumi relaxed into the embrace as well, lucky to have such great friends to worry about her.

"Don't scare me like that again. We've had WAY too much of that in the Digital World."

"Where did you guys go?" Yukito asked.

Penguinmon grinned. "Oh…we thought we'd go find a little lunch while you guys were sleeping."

Yukito just shook his head grinning as he hugged his Digimon. "Now that we're home, we don't have to eat leaves anymore! We can have cheeseburgers!"

"And pizza!"

"Do not forget the French fries!"

"So Yumi…" Renamon asked curiously. "What made you know my card was the fake?"

"Lucky guess and the fact that you are one of the best Digimon around," Yumi admitted.

"All right, now that we've got that settled, we need to get to Highton View Terrace and find that kid before Myotismon does!" Victoria announced.

"Wonder exactly how far ahead of us he is," James asked aloud.

"Not that far," Robert answered. "With no time passing since Myotismon left the Digital World and we did, he wouldn't have had any time," he explained. "Remember time flows differently in the Digital World."

Victoria let out a groan of annoyance. "Tell me about it, I barely leave and all of you disappear."

"With the months that we've been gone in the Digital World, it's the exact same day we left!"

Ember and Johnny looked at them sceptically, although they weren't on the adventure long, the trip itself was long and now looking around it wasn't clear if things were any different. It was pure trust on the others.

Yumi went to face the stone steps that led to the cabins with narrowed eyes. "I want to go check out the campgrounds, or at least get back to our cabins." Her eyes flickered over the Digimon; Renamon seemed to have already disappeared from sight. The remaining bigger Digimon, Penguinmon and Bearmon were the only ones left, side from Labramon and Pupmon who sat at their partner's feet. The other three were securely in their arms. A plan seemed to formulate in her head as she eyed the ghosts.

"What are you thinking?"

"As long as you guys can trust me. An easy way to keep from having to explain our Digimon, I would just place Motimon, Wanyamon and Lalamon into our packs. Ember and Johnny can make Penguinmon and Bearmon invisible, seeing as there'll be even more explanation with them," explained Yumi.

"What about Pupmon and Shaomon?"

"They look like dogs, either make up that they are strays or your pets."

"Wait, where's Renamon?"

"I'm never that far away," Renamon's voice echoed.

The rest of the Digidestineds looked to their Digimon and each other contemplating Yumi's words. She did have a point; it was going to be difficult to explain Pupmon and Shaomon, let alone the Digimon.

"All right, all right, deal!"

"Ember, Johnny, you two good with that?"

"That no problem to us."

Robert, Tora and Mark handed their Digimon to Yumi and Victoria who placed them gently in their bags, keeping the zippers half opened while the flap was closed over them. Johnny and Ember picked up Bearmon and Penguinmon, all four going invisible leaving only Shaomon and Pupmon.

"So what's your plan now?"

"Let's get down to the campgrounds before the teachers go on a search and rescue mission."

"I'm pretty sure Tamara, Akahana and Hisako are probably wondering where I've been."

The chaos triplets rolled their eyes at the names of Tora's friends. One of the bonus parts of being put in the Digital World was to get away from Tora's friends.

"Sure they were," muttered Yumi.

"Yumi lay off!"

"Don't you two DARE start this! You two have been good, don't start it now!" Yukito snapped.

Yumi sighed as she rolled her eyes as she descended the steps with Victoria and Kiva by her side. She needed to cool down and if she said anything right now, she could regret it later. Pupmon and Shaomon trailed after their partners shaking their heads. The others followed behind the girls knowing better then to say anything.

"Hey kids!"

"What?"

Yukito looked up in time to see a muscular man with black, curly hair and glasses running towards the group. His hand slipped out of Robert's hand as he looked upon the man. He didn't fully like the man, he had issues with Yukito's relationship with Robert, and he kept repeating that it wasn't normal.

"It's…" James' eyes went huge. "Our teacher!"

"So we are back in the real world," Robert said softly feeling the tension rising in his boyfriend and had the same distaste for the man.

"Mr. Fujiyama!" Yumi exclaimed bumping into him as she finally looked up at the man before her.

"Watch out!" the older man bristled, glaring down at the stubborn girl. "What are all you kids doing playing around here when you haven't even packed up your gear yet!"

"Well sir, I have an easy explain!" Yumi answered with a snappish attitude. Yumi had zero respect for authority, especially when it came to most of her teachers. She placed her hand on the side of the bag to keep the three Digimon from squirming. "We were merely going for a stroll in the forest."

"Didn't you kids hear that we're closing up camp early because of the snow?" he demanded glaring at Yumi, unimpressed by her attitude. "Everyone else is ready to go home!"

"Sure, of course we heard."

"Well then why-…" he broke off when Yumi started to walk past him. "Wouldn't it be wise for us to get to the buses?" as he stared at me.

"Hold on!" Mr. Fujiyama snapped, grabbing her by the arm and frowned when he noticed the two dogs standing next to Kiva and Kisho. Yumi let out a low growl irritated that he had to grab her instead. "Where did those dogs come from?"

Kiva and Kisho quickly glanced at each other silently getting their stories straight. Obviously Shaomon and Pupmon were hearing the discussions between the two mentally.

'_Pupmon, like before, don__'__t speak for me, please.__'_

'_Understood.__'_

**Kiva: They are stray dogs we found along the trail; they just followed us all the way back.**

Kiva knew very well that Mr. Fujiyama didn't know any sign language. Like the other teachers in the school, they weren't stupid; they all knew she wasn't deaf, just refused to talk. Due to those reasons, there never was a reason to talk to her.

As for Yumi, she read the sign language perfectly, although it was clear as day what Kiva said, she opted to change it around. "It's her dog, he followed her from home."

Kiva raised her eyebrow at her trying to figure out Yumi's reason for changing it around. Instead of arguing she went with it.

"I didn't know you had a dog."

"We got him last month, he still loves to follow me," Yumi translated for Kiva. Victoria had to cover her mouth to hold back a snicker. Pupmon closed his eyes rolling them hearing the conversation.

"Kisho…what about you?"

"This is Shaolin, we got him a while back and somehow he managed to get on the grounds," Kisho easily said kneeling down to Shaomon and petted his head. Mark nodded his head as Mr. Fujiyama looked at him.

"Please make sure to remember for the future, no pets to these events."

"Yes sir."

He let out a laugh before turning back around and running down the steps. "Meet you at the bus!"

"Shaolin?" Mark and Shaomon questioned.

"It was the first thing to pop into my head. Thank you for going along with it."

The first thing Myotismon felt upon leaving the Digital World was a cool breeze. His eyes gazed lazily at the streaks and blurs of blue that flashed by him and the other Digimon he had brought with him. The experience was calming, and seemed to last for an eternity.

As quickly as the serenity had come, it was gone. Suddenly, a bright light pierced his vision, causing his eyes to close tightly to protect themselves. The cool sensation was replaced with a painful sting that made the skin on his face feel tight. He forced his eyelids open slightly as to see what had gone wrong.

An orb of light in the sky said it all. He cursed to himself at his lack of consideration as to what time of day it might be on Earth. Fighting immense pain, he frantically scanned to area for shade.

"The human world is SO cluttered…" Kudamon's voice cut through the air with disdain in her voice. She was perched on the ledge of the apartment buildings. "All these creatures crammed on top of each other."

Demidevimon bared his teeth. "The Tenth Digidestined lives nearby…what's next Lord Myotismon?" The sound of heavy, anguished breathing responded. Kudamon whirled around, concern in her bright blue eyes. "Master?"

"Myotismon? What's wrong?" Demidevimon asked worriedly. He flew back and forth around his master. The creature growled at his stupidity.

Myotismon gasped for breath, his head bent down, his teeth gritted as if he were in absolute pain. "Unfortunately until the sun goes down…I must remain hidden in the shadows." He lifted his head weakly and tossed something at Kudamon; it looked like a golden necklace. "Begin the search…without me."

Kudamon leapt forward to grab it. "I won't let you down Lord Myotismon!"

After a few seconds he spotted a door through his blurred vision. He moved towards it as quickly as he could with the amount of pain he was in. Demidevimon moved to follow. "I'll come with you!" Demidevimon said excitedly.

"I need some time alone," he growled directing at him angrily, hitting him away weakly, though strong enough to hurl the creature backwards. DemiDevimon yelped as he was smacked backwards, he wasn't prepared for it.

Reaching forward, he grasped the handle and pulled; the door opened to his relief. Before his servant could react after shaking off the hit and follow him inside, Myotismon slammed the door shut.

Darkness enveloped him almost instantly once inside. The pain that had been steadily building during the minute or so he was outdoors began to subside, leaving a dull ache throughout his body. He turned slightly and locked the door behind him, allowing his body to relax against it.

"How are you guys holding up in there?" Robert asked as Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Robert and Yukito headed down the steps toward the buses. Yumi moved the flap of the bag to allow more air to enter the bag. Motimon had a grimace like look on his face.

"At least it's cushiony in here. I just wish there was more breathing space."

"I'm sorry guys, not until we're in a safe location."

"Holy shit!" gasped Shaomon as he poked his head through the bushes.

A huge crowd of human children stood in front of them, laughing and talking excitedly. Yumi scowled as she gazed upon the laughing children. Her heart yearned to be back in the Digital World away from all the happy go lucky people.

"That is a lot of children!" Pupmon said quietly, he couldn't believe his eyes as he peered through the bushes next to Kiva.

"I never thought there could be so many," Shaomon whispered.

"This is nothing! When you put all the children in the city together, there must be thousands! And when you add all the children in the world it must be…millions!" explained Kisho. "Like, I mean there are a ton of kids our age," he quickly adding seeing the look on his Digimon's face. "But there are billions of different people!"

"So, exactly how are we going to find the Tenth Child?" James asked.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out," Yumi said, her eyes flashing a bit.

Tora gasped suddenly, her eyes lighting up, almost in relief. "Hey! It's Akahana!" she squealed running over to a girl with wavy, light brown hair. She was dressed in blue Capri's and a bright pink t-shirt, Yumi let out a gag at the sight of the bright colours.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you!"

The girl, Akahana, whom Yumi loathed with every ounce of her being, hugged her friend catching a glimpse at the group she had run from. "I feel your pain girl!"

"What is going on?" asked another, a blond, curly haired girl.

"TAMARA!" Tora shrieked, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.

"See, this is what happens when you hangout with those freaks."

"That's unbelievable! She's going to give us away!" Mark fumed. "We TOLD her no time has passed since we went to the Digital World!"

"You're actually wrong," Yumi responded crossing her arms.

"What, what do…?"

"Even if it's been an x-amount of time, anyone from that group that has to deal with us needs to have their sanity group back. I'm use to it from school."

"Well the thing remains nonetheless, we have to find some form of transportation to Highton View Terrace!" Robert exclaimed.

Yumi scanned the area before hanging her head seeing their teacher. "Let's see if this plan is fool proof."

"What are you thinking?"

"Be right back. Hey Mr. Fujiyama!"

Her teacher turned his head toward her. "Hmm?"

Yumi sauntered up to him after placing her bag on the ground. _'__This better work,__'_ she muttered to herself. "Would it be possible to have the bus drop us off somewhere?" she asked, arms folded across her chest.

"Have the bus drop you off somewhere?" he questioned before shaking his head. "No can do - the rules say I have to take you straight home."

"Life my mom would even care. PLEASE, Mr. Fujiyama," Yumi pleaded, which was abnormal for her. "I'm begging you sir, and this is rare. Just drop us off somewhere near Highton View Terrace!"

Mr. Fujiyama frowned. "Highton View Terrace? Why do you want to go there?"

"Well…we used to live there when we were younger. We were feeling nostalgic, and we wanted to see our old haunt!"

"Come on," Kisho begged. "Please?"

"It would mean so much," Robert added.

"But it's against the rules!"

"You know," the bus driver said thoughtfully as he looked down at his clipboard. "I think we drive pretty close to Highton View Terrace. Let's see, first we take the highway to the parkway to the thruway…oh, that's the wrong way. Oh yeah, right here at the roadway-Highton View Terrace is within walking distance."

Yumi raised an eyebrow at him in a determined way. "Perfect! That's where you can drop us off!"

"Hold it! I haven't given the bus driver permission yet!"

"Mr. Fujiyama, please, it would mean the world to me if you allow us to go. My dear friend Kota is staying at the hospital there. I haven't seen him in years, please; I constantly would visit him in the hospital when we were younger. It also gives me the chance to see his parents again," Victoria translated.

"Mr Fujiyama!" Yukito stepped forward, trying to keep as calm as possible. "Please let us off at Highton View Terrace. You have the most responsible teens around. We can take full responsibility for them!"

Mr. Fujiyama looked sceptically at Yumi and Victoria, between Robert and Yukito, they were the two most responsible. It was hard to tell with Kiva, she was bordering. He hesitated a bit weighing his options and contemplated the situation. "Well…all right, I know I can trust you and Robert, Yukito, its fine by me. However, call your parents and tell them where you are."

"Right. Deal!"

After he disappeared from sight, Yumi turned to face the group after putting the bag back on, a look of annoyance on her face. "That man is dead if I have to deal with him any more. I am not irresponsible. It's his own view on me due to the more then once disruptions in class. Don't say anything; the man is out to get me."

Tora giggled as she climbed onto large bus, the smell of burning oil and sound of whirring gears entered the Digimon's ears as they followed closely behind in the safety of Yumi's bag. Wanyamon and Motimon were falling asleep, while Lalamon was awake nibbling on a few of left over foods in the containers.

"Like I said when we arrived here, it's going to be a long bus ride," muttered Yumi.

"Hello?" a voice called out in the darkness, bringing Myotismon back to reality. He froze, eyes snapping to the place where the voice had come from. He wasn't even sure how long he stood there for; time was just a number to him. The voice belonged to a boy crouched to floor on the other side of the room. He was much older than most of the chosen children were, but was still young.

"Sir, I don't think any one is allowed in here. This building is used for storage, and-"

"Silence," he commanded with a deep voice. It seemed to reverberate against the walls. Even from across the room he could see the boy's brows furrow in apparent anger.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are but-" the boy had the same attitude as those three girls did. Very head strong and full of determination.

Myotismon smirked. "I am Myotismon, your new master. You will obey me, and stay quiet, slave."

For a moment the boy was shocked into silence. He shook his head slightly, sure that the 'man' before him was deranged.

"I have to bring this to my father, so if you would please move…"

Myotismon glanced at the box the boy had been crouched in front of. "I don't think you understand, slave," he said with a smirk, and advanced towards the boy. "Whatever you had to do for your...father...doesn't matter any more. I have claimed you as mine, and so you will do as I say."

"Stay away from me!" the boy commanded, standing and backing away.

"That isn't how it works, slave." He closed in on the child, and pushed him roughly against the wall. "Servants that don't obey their master are punished severely. Are you going to continue to fight me?"

"Get off!" he yelled, a dreadful fear forming inside him.

"You insolent child!" Myotismon yelled, causing the boy to shrink back. "I gave you your chance; now you will pay!"

"What...are you going to do to me?" he asked, staring fearfully at the frightful figure before him.

He laughed coldly at the child, revealing his teeth to the already mortified boy. "I just traveled a great distance, and I am quite hungry. You should make a suitable meal."

"What!" the boy tried to fight his way free but lost energy quickly.

"Don't fight me, child," he whispered menacingly, tilting the boy's chin upwards. "You should be flattered that yours will be the first human blood I consume."

Tears filled the boy's eyes at the hopelessness of his situation. He couldn't continue his resistance as the monster's fangs pierced his neck. To his surprise, there was little pain. In its place was a warm, numbing sensation that began at the place of penetration and spread throughout his entire body. His eyes grew heavy but he fought to keep them open.

"Excellent!" Robert said satisfactory as his laptop screen changed to show a number of documents. "My laptop's in perfect working condition here in the real world."

"The Digivice is working too," Yukito reported sitting next to Robert, an arm draped around his shoulder as he looked at the small flashing screen.

"Well, that is good news all around," Yumi replied from behind the boys, sitting on her knees and resting on the seat in front of her. "Truthfully I was afraid that they wouldn't work."

"Admit it, you just want to have it work so you can find your Digimon," Renamon's voice sounded. Yumi raised an eyebrow as she looked around wondering where the fox Digimon was. Even Victoria, who was sitting next to her, was looking around. A yellow tail brushed against Yumi's cheek causing her to jump and scream as she sat back on her chair.

"Shit!"

"Shh…not so loud!" Victoria hissed covering her mouth. "Renamon how did you?" Victoria stammered looking up at the rack over their heads. Renamon was lying on her stomach, her head lying on her arms. She was protected by others' bags so no one except the girls could see her.

"Calm down, I-"What's that? Is that the latest toy all you kids are crazy about?" Mr. Fujiyama's voice cut in as he peered down at Victoria's Digivice through his glasses. Obviously Yumi's screams caused him to come over to investigate.

"Yeah…sure, it's the new games," Yumi retorted sarcastically rolling her eyes. "Its simply one of the old ones."

"Let me take a look at it."

"Uh…" Victoria said, stiffening up. She didn't like people getting into her personal business, especially when it was private. "Sorry, it's broken!"

"Perhaps I can fix it," he responded cheerfully, stretching out his hand toward her, Victoria gripped her Digivice tightly. "Here give it to me. I'm pretty good with electronics!"

Victoria refused to loosen up her grip on her Digivice, her eyes staring challengingly at Mr. Fujiyama. Even Yumi had her Digivice held protectively in her hand.

Yumi finally rolled her eyes as she slowly dropped the Digivice into his outstretched hand. "Here."

Mr. Fujiyama smiled at her. "Thank you Yumi. Maybe you weren't always that bad."

"Yeah right."

Mr. Fujiyama gave her a look that would silence anyone instantly. All it did with Yumi was challenging him even more. "You need to mind your language while on here."

"Yes sir."

"It's this way guys!" one bay laughed as he peddled his bike across the road, his friend's right behind them.

None of them noticed blue eyes peering out at them from the wastebasket. Kudamon waited until they had passed before looking down at the Crest around her neck. She scowled as it still remained dark, and lifeless, before climbing up and dropping to the ground.

The sound of the smack of wood echoed as a ball flew high over the fence. Happy screams from children echoed on the other side, and Kudamon pinned her ears back in annoyance.

"You can't turn over a rock here without finding a kid under it," she scoffed, "but I still haven't been able to find the tenth Digidestined!"

"Grr…"

She whirled around to see a large dog standing there, snarling angrily, drool dripping from its mouth as it looked hungrily at her.

Kudamon's eyes narrowed. "You want it? Come and get it…puppy."

The dog barked angrily before charging at her, snapping its teeth. Kudamon leapt to the fence above them, whipping him across the face with her tail. He yelped before running away whimpering. She smirked and dropped again to the ground looking at the Crest in one paw and bit her lip when it kept blank.

Bats flickered across the room, the rest of the flock hanging down from the garage ceiling, their beady red eyes fixed on the scene in front of them.

"What do you mean?" Myotismon snarled from inside the coffin, Digimon crowded from other sides around it. The boy Myotismon came across earlier was currently well hidden in the corner out of sight. Myotismon had plans for him yet. "You couldn't find the child? You have failed me!"

"P-please master," Kudamon whimpered as she pressed herself farther into the ground. "I swear he's not here!"

"Silence, Kudamon!" The coffin's lid slid open, and Myotismon slowly rose, a sly smirk on his face. He appeared to be better than what he did before but still not fully healed. "Thankfully your incompetence isn't as disastrous as it seems…Demidevimon!"

Demidevimon fluttered forward, grinning evilly, and several other necklaces just like Kudamon's in his talons.

"I have made several copies of the Tenth child's Crest," he explained, taking one and admiring it slightly. "The one that you have is a copy too…the original," he gestured to one wrapped around his right hand, "is with me!"

He smirked before standing up wrapping his cape around him. "This time, make no mistakes, you must find that child!"

"Gotcha!"

Baring his fangs in a snarl, Myotismon added, "And when you DO find him, then he must die!"

**A/N: So I opted to split this into two chapters. This gives an idea toward both the Digidestined as well as Myotismon. Also, I wanted to add more detail into Myotismon then quick blips of him like the show.**


	42. Returning to the past

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, I appreciate it guys. Here is the next chapter giving more into their past. Just a heads up; when I focus on Myotismon or any other villains, it****'****s going to be a short chapter with them, I just mean, it****'****s not going to be longer like usual.**

**Chapter 42**

**Returning to the past**

******Aug. 1****st**** (Noon)**

"Bye!" The group called after being dropped off at a pit stop after an hour bus ride into Highton View Terrace.

"Thanks again Mr. Fujiyama!"

"Goodbye!"

Yumi waved one more time feigning her cheerfulness as the bus rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. As soon as the last bus disappeared, Yumi rolled her eyes and flipped off the bus.

"Finger broken?" Renamon asked appearing at Victoria's side after disappearing from the rack on the bus.

"Oh I wish," Yumi said with a hint of irritation. It wasn't towards her but towards the teacher and other students. Yumi turned to face Kiva and Victoria who were leaning over the bridge they were standing on. A look of apprehension on Victoria's face as she looked around at the huge buildings in front of her. They were all clustered next to each other on every road, the sound of cars whizzing beneath them. A sigh escaped her as she gazed at a few of the buildings.

"Look!" Tora exclaimed suddenly, pointing to a large tower ahead of them, even taller than the others. It snapped Victoria out of her thoughts as she shifted her gaze toward the building. "There's the Highton View Terrace tower!"

Robert nodded as the group all looked up its giant height. "The tallest apartment building in Japan!"

Victoria made a face as she scoffed at the place. "That place isn't so hot," she folded her arms as she turned away from the building, something on her mind. Renamon followed her, wrapping her arm around her worried what was going on.

"All too true," Yukito agreed. "The heat NEVER worked-I used to live there…for nearly a year anyway."

Penguinmon, who was at his side as the ghosts finally joined the group, gasped, his eyes widening as he looked up at him. "You use to live in there?"

"Sadly."

"Yumi, where did you use to live?" Johnny asked.

Yumi looked over at him blinking slightly, she knew Ember and Johnny had known her, Kiva and Victoria for about three years, mainly when they arrived in Odaiba did they meet them. "Hmm? Oh…" she gestured with her hand. "About a block or so away from here. Victoria and I went to Westside Elementary together."

"Renamon, I'm fine!" Victoria snapped, her voice wavering a bit. Yumi turned her head to see Victoria getting anxious and pacing.

"What's wrong with her?" Mark asked concerned.

Yumi looked at her friend before turning to face the apartment building as the realization kicked in. She went to her friend's side, while Renamon placed her paws on her shoulders.

"Tori, what is it?" Kisho asked in all sincerity.

"I never had a great experience here in Highton View Terrace. It was basically hell from the age of three to seven. I still have nightmares of that apartment," Victoria gulped as she placed her head into her hands and sighed.

Kisho went up to her and hugged her waist. He was such an innocent kid and definitely cared deeply for those around him.

"When did you use to live here?" Yukito asked cautiously not wanting to have her snap at him or shut down.

Victoria sighed as she looked up at the building. "I think this was the third family that took me in. I was maybe still around the age of four. They could careless with me. Sure I was four, what four year old could recall those years? The fact that the family left an impression of me it was kind of hard NOT to remember. There were times when we were, the other kids and I, left alone in there for hours. I didn't stay long, three months till the social service people took me out," Victoria explained shaking her head to clear her mind from those troubling times. Yumi was the only one to know the full extent of her troubling past. Kiva knew bits and pieces of it, but not the way Yumi did.

"How long were you in foster care for?" Kisho asked.

"Thirteen families, seven years or so. Akima and Yamato were my last family to ever love me for me and actually take care of me. This place…not just the apartment…has been full of hell for me. I just feel that the longer we stay here, the longer I'm going to feel trapped."

"Come, I think we reminisced in the past long enough," Yumi piped up wrapping her arm around Victoria's shoulder and pulled her away from the sight of the apartment building.

"So Kiva, the story about…"

"Very true, he's in the hospital here. Because we moved I haven't been able to visit him regularly like I use to," Kiva admitted.

"Okay…strange coincidence…but…I use to live here too," Mark mused.

"Same here, before we moved!" Tora chimed in.

"Me too!" Robert admitted jumping off the rail and strolled over to the others.

Ember's eyes narrowed. "All of you lived here? At the same time? How often does that happen?"

"Ember has a point," Yukito agreed. "This can't just be a coincidence, there's got to be some meaning to it!"

The sound of flapping wings made Yumi whirl around and she froze, the blood draining from her face. A huge flock of bats flew above them, their red eyes fixed on the group as they snarled, showing their fangs.

"Myotismon's army!" Yumi yelled. "Run for it!"

Everyone pushed and shoved to get off the bridge before bolting down the steps and into the nearby alleyways, desperately hoping to find a place to hide. The ghosts vanished from sight, not in fear but to locate a safe location ahead of the others.

After a number of minutes he felt the faint withdrawal of teeth at his neck, for the second time that day, before he was released and allowed to collapse onto the floor. His eyes traveled upwards to his assailant.

The vampire stared down at him with a mix of contempt and astonishment. The boy was still awake; still alive even after the number of bites. He smirked, dabbing a trace of blood off his chin. He would make sure that would change.

Behind him, glowing red orbs began to materialize, seemingly out of nowhere. At first there were only a few, but they soon numbered over one hundred. The boy knew he should be afraid, but he couldn't bring himself to feel the emotion. Even as the numbing effects of the vampire's bite faded away, and sharp nips and tugs at his flesh could be felt, he stayed quiet and accepted his fate as the slave he had been declared.

He knew he was covered in blood; he could smell it, and his body stung as tiny teeth gnawed at his exposed muscles. He knew he was being eaten alive, but he didn't fight anymore. His eyes grew heavy again; this time he couldn't keep the heaviness at bay. The last thing he saw before passing out was the piercing, ice blue eyes of his master, Lord Myotismon.

It hadn't taken long before there was little left of the boy. The creatures Myotismon summoned ate the flesh, muscle and organs, leavings behind only bone and hair.

Kudamon giggled as she bounded from building roof to building roof above the group. "They can run…but they can't hide-from Mammothmon!"

"Hmm?" Victoria hesitated, stopping in her tracks as the sound of a loud, angry roar echoed throughout the area, the ground shaking a bit. "What was?"

"Tora!" Renamon called from ahead of her. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

Nodding, Victoria bolted after her; a trickle of apprehension still ran down my spine. Something didn't seem right to her.

A large trunk shot out of nowhere, seizing one of the motorbikes on the side of the road and tossing it high into the air, sending it flying.

"My new motorcycle!" a young teenage boy howled his eyes wide with horror before he spun around with a glare on his face.

A huge elephant-like creature, covered in mangy brownish fur, long silver and gold tusks poking out from beneath a silver helmet.

"HEY!" he hollered angrily. "Respect other people's property you walking shag carpet!"

The creature snarled before roaring and taking a menacing step towards him. The teenager whimpered as he tossed his helmet at the creature, Mammothmon chucked it back making contact with the motorcycles head instead, knocking him to the ground just as he went to run the other way.

Mammothmon roared as he stomping ahead, past the boy who was now curled into a ball unable to get to safety.

"W-whoever owns this elephant should know there's a leash law!"

"Oh look honey," one woman on the sidewalk said dreamily. "A wild elephant on the rampage."

"Must be filming a movie or something."

With another angry roar, the elephant Digimon slammed his foot on top of the van in front of him, squashing it flat. Thankfully it was currently empty-but the way he eyed the running humans meant he wouldn't miss next time.

Kudamon shook her head in disgust as she watched from above. "What's that big eared freak trying to do? Destroy the Digidestined and everyone else too?" she scoffed. "We should have never brought this type of Digimon along."

The screams of people echoed across the city, angering him even more as he let out another roar.

"If that's a car," one man stammered, his eyes wide as he sat behind the wheel, "it's got an awful lot of trunk space!"

Mammothmon's ears flicked back and he bared his teeth in a low growl.

"I'm gonna call the cops!" another man exclaimed, frantically punching buttons on his cell phone and getting nothing but static. "H-huh? The phone's dead!"

"Mine too!"

"Hey," James asked excitedly as the group stood in front of a small store on the corner, far away form the rampaging Mammothmon. "Do you guys remember this place? I bought candy here!"

"It was my favourite store!" Tora smiled.

"It was our pit stop every time after school," Yumi replied smiling at Victoria.

"That stash hoard got huge, I'd have to admit."

Mark turned to his brother. "You probably are too young to remember but when we lived here, mom used to take us here all the time."

Kisho grinned mischievously. "Maybe some candy would help me to remember." Shaomon smiled up at him, his tail wagging.

Yumi grinned at she looked at the store and turned to the girls. "You two hungry?"

"H-huh?"

"Yes!" Pupmon piped up sitting back on his hind legs in a begging position.

Yumi could help the laugh that escaped her. She ran into the store clutching on to her bag. "Be right back!"

"Um…someone explain to me what she is doing?" Ember questioned.

"I guess we'll soon find out."

About five minutes passed by, Yumi came running back out carrying a bag of something that smelled sweet, very sweet, and very familiar.

"Yumi…is…is that what I think it is?" Victoria asked eyeing the bag, eyes widening. At this point in time she was craving something sweet and she knew all too well that Yumi knew her stash.

"Eat up!" she grinned.

Victoria opened the bag to see a huge assortment of chocolate bars, and a variety of candy from skittles to gummy bears, fuzzy peaches and a few other goodies. The look on Victoria's face was like she died and went to heaven as she grabbed a bag of skittles and slowly backed away as the others dived in.

"You have a sweet tooth don't you?" Renamon asked as Victoria opened the bag and held it out to her.

"Sugar good."

Kiva smirked as she shared a bag of fuzzy peaches, one of her favourite foods on occasion. Everyone calmed down as they enjoyed their sweets. There was still a ton let in the bag, which would likely be split between Yumi and Victoria as their stash once again.

Victoria leaned again the back of the bench with Renamon with Yukito, Robert and Kisho sitting on the bench, their Digimon on their laps eating their own share of chocolate.

"Kiva…you mentioned about having to move…why did you have to?"

"Just like everything else, parents wanted to move. But truthfully…I don't recall the exact reason for leaving."

"Well, if you don't know…maybe I should tell you why," Robert said.

"Huh?"

"How exactly could you know why Kiva's parents moved away? I didn't know anyone knew her family. Even we didn't know why she moved away," Yumi questioned.

Robert shook his head. "No, I didn't know Kiva back then. However, I DID see what happened. Her whole family packed up and moved because of a terrorist bombing!"

Everyone turned to face him, eyes widening as everyone gaped. "Say WHAT now?"

"Bombing?"

Yumi couldn't believe her ears, could what he say be true? "Did you say…terrorist?"

"Not sure if you guys remember it…about four years ago the story was in all the papers. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks of all time. They never found the group responsible, so a lot of families got scared thinking it could happen again and moved out. My parents figured it had just become too dangerous to live here anymore, so we moved to Odaiba."

"Now that you mention that," Yumi said slowly as realization kicked in. "I do remember that. I remember a few of my friends had moved away after that."

"My foster parents at the time acted scared the whole time and refused to have me leave the house. I thought they were just being their usual asshole selves."

Suddenly, a black and white car raced past them, sirens blaring. "What the?"

"What's going on NOW?" Tora asked in shock.

No one had time to wait long to find out, an angry roar echoed down the street. The ground started shaking again as Mammothmon came charging through.

"That…is one big elephant," Mark's voice was shaky, and Yumi's eyes widened as the huge creature stomped around the corner and snarled.

"He's called Mammothmon," Robert informed them, typing a few buttons on his laptop. "He's a fully Digivolved Digimon, with the strength of a woolly mammoth. He shoots missiles he calls Tusk Crusher and has a chilling attack called Freezing Breath!"

Another one of those flashing cars drove up. "Get out of here kids!" the police officer snapped. "This is a danger zone!" He punched a few buttons on his radio, "headquarter, can anyone hear me? Come in! Come in!"

Mammothmon roared angrily again before charging at them, his tusks shining menacingly in the light.

"Get out of here NOW!" the man spat again as the car whirled away.

Shaomon and Pupmon snarled as Mammothmon charged towards them. Both were determined to protect their partners no matter the cause.

"That monster's fully Digivolved!" Kisho snapped at them. "There's no way you can fight it!"

"Just leave everything to me!" Renamon said as she ran towards him.

Victoria's eyes widened. "Renamon!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

"Dragon wheel!" she roared, a flame on her body erupted into a fiery inferno. A swirling ball of blue fire engulfed her entire body. A mystical dragon appeared emerging from her body aiming towards Mammothmon, who merely grunted and narrowed his eyes as they bounced off his pelt and completely scorched the area around them.

"Hold on…I…this…" Victoria stammered, eyes going wide.

Mammothmon roared angrily before seizing a bus in front of him and hurling it at her, she barely managed to dodge it rolling on the ground.

Yumi stared in disbelief, her eyes huge. "No…freaking way."

"Tusk Crusher!" Mammothmon roared, launching two blasts of energy right at her, they collided into the side of the nearby building, and the combined scent of smoke and the sound of people screaming made Yumi shudder.

Kyubimon screamed as the blast of energy shot her backwards out of control, skidding across the road.

"Kyubimon!" Victoria screamed, leaping forward just as Kisho yelped, "there were two!"

"Excuse me?"

"There were two monsters!" Kisho repeated.

"What are you TALKING about Kisho?" Kiva asked, sounding as confused as Yumi did.

Mark's eyes widened suddenly. "Oh man, now I remember. A long time ago, Kisho was convinced he saw two monsters and my mom was upset at him for it. I just…assumed he'd imagined the whole thing."

"When did all of this take place?" Robert and Yumi asked urgently.

"Right after the terrorist bombing."

The sounds of the fight grew more and more intense, Yumi and Victoria's face grew pale as they watched the two of them struggle, as they got even closer and closer to them.

"Tusk Crusher!" Mammothmon bellowed, blasting another wave of energy at Kyubimon; she yelled as the attack scorched her side before slamming into the road below, creating a huge smouldering crater.

"This is really strange," Yukito's eyes were wide. "Does anyone else feel like they remember the bombing?"

"Yes."

"I do!"

"I almost feel like I was there…" Victoria murmured. The trance like look in her eyes as she watched the battle worried Yumi, although there as a strange feeling deep down inside her that she agreed with her. "Somehow I forgot…"

Robert frowned. "That sounds like repressed memory to me."

"Robert…what did I say? This place was pure hell to me. Of course it would be repressed memories."

Mammothmon roared angrily as Kyubimon's claws slashed across his face, stomping his foot, he whirled around to face the direction of the bridge as she charged behind him.

At that minute, Yumi's eyes snapped open as she came to her senses. Something inside of her screamed at her as memories flooded her. "We need to get off this bridge!" she shouted, whirling around to face the exit. "NOW!"

Tora screamed and almost toppled head first across the railing as another one of Kyubimon's attacks struck the side of the bridge, shaking it wildly.

"MOVE!" Kiva snapped grabbing her by the back of the shirt and yanking her back to her feet as everyone raced after the others.

She whimpered as they all ducked beneath the bridge. "It's happening! It's happening all over again!"

The bottom rumbled ominously above the group and Yumi could hear an enraged squeal of pain from Mammothmon. The smell of burnt steel and blood filled my nose and she almost gagged due to the burnt steel.

Victoria's eyes widened as she looked over her shoulder. "Guys! Get down! NOW!"

Yumi hit the ground with Kiva and Kisho next to her, their own Digimon pinned beneath them, just as a flash of light and heat struck the side of the bridge facing them.

"This is just how it happened!" Yukito yelped as he helped Robert to his feet. "Back then a giant fireball destroyed the bridge!"

James' eyes widened with realization. "Doesn't…doesn't at least one of them look oddly familiar? I mean…the two monsters that were fighting?"

Yumi cringed as the bridge shook again, rubble starting to fall down on them. "Uh…guys? We could stand around reminiscing about the good old days…or we could get OUT OF HERE!"

"The bridge is gonna collapse!" Kisho gasped as everyone bolted for the archway to see Kyubimon charge at Mammothmon, her eyes blazing as she sank her teeth and claws into his trunk.

Mammothmon squealed angrily before swiping his trunk side to side. When that didn't work his eyes narrowed and he growled as cold ice blasted from his trunk, right on Kyubimon's torso. She screamed in agony, her eyes widening as the attack blasted her backwards into the bridge.

"Kyubimon!" Victoria gasped, bolting towards her Digimon. Kyubimon weakly lifted her head up from the rubble of the bridge, her face and half her torso was covered with ice and deep, painful looking wounds. "Victoria…s…sorry…"

Victoria let out a whimpered as her Crest started glowing. "Kyubimon digivolve to…Taomon!"

Mammothmon snarled under his breath as the light slowly started to fade and the Ultimate Digimon stood there, glaring at him. "Tusk Crusher!"

"KIVA! WATCH OUT!" Yumi shouted, shoving her to the side as the attack blasted right at them and collided into the bridge with a massive explosion of fire and smoke that sent chunks of it flying, some of them in flames themselves.

Kiva let out a silent groan as she slowly lifted her head up as best as she could. Yumi was holding her close with Pupmon pinned once more under her. Taomon was standing before them, shielding them from the blast.

Victoria stared up at her, eyes blinking, matching that of Yumi's. "The fire Digimon I saw," Victoria breathed still in shock. "Yumi! It was Kyubimon!"

Everyone's eyes widened hearing it. "Kyubimon?"

"Tusk Crusher!" Mammothmon roared again, Taomon only smirked as she leapt above the attack and landed onto his back.

He squealed with rage as he stormed off at top speed trying to knock her off. Thinking quickly she grabbed onto his ears and yanked backwards, forcing him to come to a screeching halt.

"That day…a Viximon came to my house and Digivolved into Kyubimon. She was fighting with a bird-type Digimon."

Taomon sank her claws into his flank and easily flipped him over her shoulders slamming him into the ground.

"This is far too easy," she smirked. "Talisman of light!" She painted a Sanskrit in the sky chanting the familiar mantra and sent it towards Mammothmon causing him to explode after one last scream.

"Viximon!" Victoria called out running forward to catch her little yellow furred Digimon in her arms as she fell from the sky. Viximon let out a little yelp as she plummeted into Victoria's arms. "Mmm…so happy to have you."

"After the fight," Victoria continued as the group stood in the middle of the wrecked road. "The two Digimon disappeared."

"And the police called the attack a terrorist bombing!" Yukito added as the realization hit.

"Exactly! Somehow the Digimon were involved all along!"

"How then did Yumi…"

"We had a sleepover, we were eight, inseparable and did everything together," Yumi summed up.

"The question remains, how did the Digimon get here in the first place?" Ember asked.

"I wish I knew," Victoria shrugged. "That had to be how Dani knew about Viximon. She met her back there on that day!"

Pupmon blinked looking at Viximon. "You met her?"

She shook his head. "It must have been a different Viximon. Although I do remember feeling something when I met Victoria and ignoring her constant questioning."

"New world, strange creatures…what do you expect from me?"

"Regardless, it's like we'd met before."

The sound of sirens reached their ears, and everyone all froze. "Listen!" Johnny hushed. "It's the cops! I don't know about you but I don't want to deal with their incessant questions."

"Everybody run!" Kiva ordered, as everyone whirled around and bolted off into the park not far off.

"You know," Robert commented as the gang stood in the shade of an apartment building right on the edge of the park. "I always thought it was kind of weird out of all the kids at camp we were chosen to be the Digidestined. I knew it couldn't just be some coincidence. We had to be connected through some common event. Today, I found out what it was."

"I'm so proud of you, you get a cookie for this," Yukito said sarcastically patting his head.

"What? So our uniqueness doesn't play into this factor?" Yumi joined in with the teasing.

Robert rolled his eyes as he shook his head swatting Yukito's hand away. "You're lucky I love you. Four years ago, we were all living at Highton View Terrace at the same time and we all saw those two Digimon fight."

Eyes widening, James said, "then the Tenth child must have seen the fight as well."

"What if Myotismon's already found the kid?" Tora protested. "I mean, he's been searching ALL day!"

"I doubt it," Wanyamon piped up. "Why would Mammothmon be making such a commotion unless they were still looking? The Tenth child is still out there or maybe he moved, like you guys?"

"How will that help us?" Ember asked sceptically, leaning against a nearby tree. "I mean, there were hundreds of kids living in Highton View Terrace at the time! And there's no way of telling which ones moved or which ones still live there. And do not think that I am going to use my power to get people to talk."

"She has a point," Yumi agreed glumly.

Victoria's eyes narrowed stubbornly. "Don't worry! We'll find him! Before Myotismon!"

**A/N: Here ends the second part to the last chapter. If you haven****'****t figured out why I split it into two, it****'****s because this one literally dealt with memories. Also, please note Victoria and Yumi are like sisters and are bound to each other.**


	43. Sairento Kiba

**A/N: Here comes a very interesting chapter, delve deeper into Victoria****'****s past and see those who put Kota into the coma. Will Myotismon and Wizardmon be in this chapter? Maybe, maybe not. To be honest for the time the Digidestineds are in the real world, it is going to be a split between the show and my own creation. Heads up with this chapter, be ready for multi flashbacks, letting you know, it****'****s going to be relatively short memories. Read and find out what I mean. A good chunk will be my own creation. Obviously, thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Emotions never lie and Night Oath****'****s for your awesome reviews.**

**Chapter 43**

**Sairento Kiba**

**Aug. 1****st**** (2pm)**

The sound of children laughing in the distance was nearly foreign in the Digidestineds ears. After being gone for so long, it was strange to hear the other children around. The group remained in the park for a little bit trying to come up with a plan of action while they were stuck there. Knowing that Myotismon was in the vicinity meant that they needed to move quickly.

"What exactly is the game plan?" Tora asked sitting on the ground holding on to Lalamon, as the rest of the group either sat on the ground, leaning against the tree or sitting on the tree branches.

"We need to head back to Odaiba and find the child before Myotismon even figures it out," James insisted pacing back and forth. "That is the best option we have!"

"What would be the chances of the kid even being there in Odaiba in the first place?" Mark asked. "There could be a chance that he is here somewhere."

"You really want to take that chance?" James argued.

"The child could be anywhere that is true. Arguing about it isn't going to solve anything!" Ember snapped ending the argument right there and then. James and Mark stopped their bickering as the two looked at her, her eyes glowing red. "Both of you need to grow up right now and end this insufferable arguing!"

Johnny blinked at her, unsure where any of that had come from. In all the time he had known her, maturity wasn't her style and neither was taking charge like this.

"Ember has a point," Yukito commented. "We are all in this together. We have to work together, the bickering needs to end here! Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," James answered staring at him with wide eyes.

"Now, obviously sitting here isn't going to solve anything. We've already established that any of the children in the park are not the ones we are searching for. Before any more arguments start up, why don't we do a quick check around here before we head home," suggested Yukito, becoming the official peacekeeper in the group.

"Yumi, what do you think?" Tora asked looking up at the branch above their heads. Above them sat Yumi, Victoria, Viximon, Kiva and Pupmon on her lap. Sitting with her back to the trees was Victoria with her hands over her ears rocking back and forth mumbling incoherently. Sweat was forming on the top of her forehead as her breathing became irregular. Viximon, who was sitting on her lap, looked up at her with concern. She could see that Victoria's whole body was trembling like a leaf. Yumi sat in front of her trying to figure out the main concern was. It didn't take a genius to realize that Victoria was going into a nervous break down.

"Victoria…talk to me girl. This is starting to worry me to no end."

The mumbling continued, nothing Yumi or Viximon could do would snap her out of her state of mind. Victoria's eyes were shut tightly and the grip on the sides of her head increased with each memory.

"I'm a mistake…I'm a mistake…"

"Hunny, you are, in no way, a mistake."

"What's wrong with her?" Lalamon asked concerned looking up at the triplets.

"Victoria's experiencing a nervous break down, I think she is stuck in a memory loop of repressed memories. For her sake, we should get moving. The longer she sits here, the longer she deals with memories."

"Moving sounds good, at least we can get some search in," Mark shrugged.

Kiva easily jumped off the branch with Pupmon securely in her arms. Yumi and Viximon were trying their hardest to get Victoria's hands away from her ears so she could move from her spot. Yumi couldn't help but notice that her hands were clammy. Throughout their trip in the Digital World it was Victoria who kept her cool while trying to help her friend's, it was normally Yumi in this position.

"Victoria, come on, we can't get you down like this. Please baby," Yumi pleaded softly getting her face close to Victoria's.

Victoria never responded as she remained in the same position. She was so far gone nothing was going to get through to her. The voices of the past were coming far too quickly, filling her head with threats, broken promises, and just hell. The more the memories over lapped the more Victoria sunk further into her own world. Her muscles were becoming tensed, due to that it was starting to become painful to her.

"I promise I'll be a good girl. I promise…please…"

"Yumi, wait with the others," Ember insisted flying up to the branch as she looked over at the trembling girl.

"But…"

"Don't argue with me, just trust me."

Yumi nodded as she jumped to the ground with Viximon in her arms and stood by Kiva and Yukito. Both were giving her questioning looks trying to figure out what was going on. Yumi shrugged, having it be the only decent answer to give, and even she didn't understand the ghost rocker's plans.

Ember crouched before Victoria on the same branch. Gently, she pushed a few strands of hair from her sweaty face and tucked them behind her ears. Victoria's eyes were still close and she repeatedly mumbled incoherent noises. Ember had only seen her in this particular state of mine once.

"Victoria, you have to snap out of this, no one is going to harm you any more."

Ember's voice couldn't penetrate Victoria's mind. It was getting impossible to pull her out. Ember took matters into her own hands as she picked Victoria up into her arms and vanished from the branch and reappeared on to the ground next to the group. Victoria remained in Ember's arms still in her own world.

"What exactly is the plan?" Viximon asked.

"We'll start wandering around, hopefully something will come up. After that we'll head home."

"I like that plan, it'll give us some exercise. Hopefully moving around will bring Victoria back to normal."

"For our sake, I hope you are right."

"Can I make a small request; could we take a side trip to the hospital? I truly do wish to visit Kota."

"Of course. We have nothing better to do," admitted Yumi shrugging. It was true, albeit they wanted to get on with their searching, a trip to the hospital would be a good change of pace. Plus, it would take more time till they returned home.

"I can never do anything right! I'm just a waste of space!" Victoria mumbled after being placed on her feet.

"Yumi, you've been friend's with her since the two of you were babies…you can easily get into her head," Yukito assured her placing a hand on Yumi's shoulder.

"Okay, Victoria, you better come out of it baby." Yumi stood before Victoria who was mumbling and getting edgy. "Victoria, hunny, I know you can hear me sweetie. I need you to snap out of this. There are a lot of people here that are worried sick about you. I understand that you have been through hell and back, I have seen what most of the families were like and what they did to you. It wasn't right. But that is all in the past, you are here now. Stronger than before, have people who love you and survived everything. Baby, come on, I hate seeing you like this. It makes me think that those bastards still have a grasp on you!"

Moments passed as Victoria looked up at her friend, eyes opening and blood shot from the tears that she now shed due to internal conflict. She seemed to slowly come back to reality of where they were and who was with them. A soft shade of pink highlighted her cheeks, embarrassed for her nervous breakdown.

"I am such an idiot for showing that side of me."

"Enough! Do you understand me? You reached your limit. You have coped so long on your own with all this shit. You've done so well without having a nervous breakdown. You are safe among us and have nothing to fear. We can get through this together. Right now, let's go for a stroll and take things off your mind," Yumi explained. The others stood behind her, a look of worry on their faces as they gazed at her. No one truly looked at her and questioned her mentality.

"Victoria, are you going to be okay?" Kisho asked concerned.

"Yeah," Victoria sighed running her hands over her face. "Yeah, I'll be okay. Can we possibly get out of here by any chance?"

"Going right now. We needed to make sure you were going to be all right."

Victoria nodded her head as she picked up Viximon in her arms once more and held her close. "I feel horrible. I don't feel like I am being a great tamer."

"Victoria, you are a fabulous tamer. Don't you ever think otherwise. You are putting far too much stress on yourself. This is why I continuously suggest meditation, it takes off the edge," Viximon replied.

"She's right you know. Meditation really helped out a lot."

"What about talking about it? Does that ever help?" Mark asked.

"I've never really talk about it. Yumi always knew and when I was finally adopted by Akima and Yamato, there never seemed to be a reason to actually talk about it. I thought I could block it out…repress it. That always seemed to work and help out. For years I let it go. When we had to travel, and had to come through here, I would either space right out or not focus on the location."

"So no to counselling?"

"A few of my foster families made me go…all different reasons. I would shut right down while there. I maybe had roughly three sessions before they realized that their money was going to waste."

"Didn't you try to explain that you've been before and didn't want to be there?"

"Tried, no one ever cared. I think they were trying to make me out to be this crazy person that didn't know how to handle anything. By the time I got to my better life, I became a little more open. Mom and dad would listen to me. Mom is actually a therapist herself so it made things easier. I didn't have to worry about time limits; I was in a comfort zone. I never got into the deep parts of my past with her, I was always afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Yukito asked.

"What she might say. I could be making it up…all that shit."

"I doubt that. If she loves you, she will listen."

"It never helped that I was moved from one foster home to another, the only stable thing I had was Yumi and school."

Viximon nuzzled against her hoping to calm her, a lot of her past hand been under lock and key to everyone. Yumi was sworn to secrecy due to knowing what exactly what was going on. For eight years, Victoria kept everything on a down low, no one knew of the physical, mental, and verbal abuse she endured from each family. It wasn't to say each family would have the same abuse, but after so long it blended in together.

"So what you said back in the Digital World…about Okamimon surfacing…"

"When I said it didn't bother me? I was wrong; I could usually cover it up. I got so out of control due to all the hell I was put through."

The group fell silent for some time taking in what Victoria said. A lot of answers became clear to the group with the way she acted as well as her outcome to life. Yumi wrapped an arm around Victoria's shoulder as she pulled her close.

"For the love of all things…can we please leave the park?" Victoria insisted suddenly startling the group.

"Come on, I'm sure we can locate a way through the city to the hospital quickly," Kiva agreed.

"Viximon, come on, you're riding in the bag."

Everyone got situated quickly, all the Digimon either in bags, strolling beside their partners or with the ghosts. They didn't want to take any risks, since arriving in the Real World, the nine had been extremely careful. Yumi draped an arm around Victoria's shoulder guiding her out of the park. Kiva followed on Victoria's other side eyeing her every so often to make sure her friend was okay.

Throughout their four year friendship, some of the struggles that Victoria was going through were still unknown to her. Kiva learned through Yumi when Victoria was absent from the group due to sickness, family get together or anything in between. The other was straight from Victoria, but normally was sporadic.

Did it bother Kiva that she didn't know a whole heck of a lot of Victoria's past? A bit, their friendship was growing so strongly over the years that Victoria should have opened up more. It wasn't as if Kiva hadn't asked, she constantly asked, especially when she slipped into a dark place. She normally shrugged it off just like she did now knowing that Victoria would say something in due time.

Yukito felt horrible that he hadn't paid more attention to Victoria's dilemma, their ten year friendship meant so much more. He was usually very vigilant to his friends, even if he didn't always be with them.

The remainder of the group was at odds with Victoria's struggles, unlike the other three, there truly wasn't that great of a bond between them but now as they got to know her, they felt complete sympathy for her.

As for the Digimon, their concern now heightened with every step they took. In their eyes a friendship had formed, which brought everyone close. Viximon obviously was paranoid with her friend's safety, unsure what she was capable of. The other Digimon felt it was necessary to keep close with her.

Victoria learned against Yumi feeling slightly calmer with her around. After twelve years of friendship, their bond has grown considerably. In no way would anything change with that. The girl's viewed each other as sisters and nothing more; even though people would assume that they were girlfriends. Neither one saw that in each other. Out of everyone in not just in the group, but those at school and everyone she met in foster care, she was closest to Yumi.

Victoria eyed the area just outside the park fighting back another shudder. It was obvious that Victoria was uneasy about the area in itself, not to mention the certain location. She gulped as she eased her breath and willed herself to keep moving.

~Flashback~

A five year old Victoria was struggling to keep up with two girls and a boy, the three just a year or two older than her. On her back was a thick bag filled with not just her homework and books but the others as well.

It was right after school and due to being in the same house and acting like siblings; the three older siblings went to pick up Victoria and decided that instead of carrying their own work, the youngest should deal with the weight of everything.

Now, running down the street, the older three laughed as they headed home. Their laughter wasn't just in playful fun; it was also filled with jeer towards Victoria for her suffering.

"Wait up, please!" Victoria pleaded seven feet or more behind them. She stopped as she went to adjust the bag on her shoulders. Frustration was building up in her and struggled between crying, shouting or moping. This was her eighth foster family so far, the last family didn't have her long, and maybe around two months till Child Services stepped in and removed her from the family. Due to the last seven families, there was to be no screaming, crying or talk back. If she did, Victoria would get back handed. Her emotions were never truly dealt with properly.

"Come on, you can't stand there all day!" the oldest girl with brunette hair called.

"It's too heavy! I can't carry it."

"Stop being so weak and this wouldn't have to happen!" retorted the boy.

"Can't you three take your books back? This is hurting!"

"Did you hear that? The baby is hurting," chortled the other girl. "Perhaps I should give you something to cry about!" Without warning, the older girl shoved her roughly to the ground with no remorse.

The other two laughed as Victoria fell backwards, tears forming in her eyes as she began to cry. She ended up scraping her leg in the process as well as hitting her head.

~End flashback~

Victoria let out a gasp as the group passed the same store she fell in front of seven years ago. She could remember no one stopped to help her. They just continued to walk by while Victoria's foster siblings left her.

"Tori? What is it?" Viximon asked, poking her head out of the bag and looking up at her partner in worry.

"Just a memory. I was so weak then…just like I am now."

"You are not weak! Do you hear me? You are strong, you've gotten stronger over the years," Yumi argued squeezing her hand.

"Yumi's right," Yukito and Kiva agreed in unison.

"You just have to keep your chin up!" Tora replied with a sad smile.

Victoria gazed up at Tora, a small smile on her on face. With no doubt of a lie, the younger girl had a point.

"This place has no hold over you, just remember that!" Mark exclaimed.

Victoria was impressed by how many of them were being so encouraging to her. She was surprised that even Mark was being kind. After all the crap she put him through during their time in the Digital World he still tried to help.

"You guys are right, I just wish there was a way to forget everything about those times."

"In time it'll go away. Just remember that you have a wonderful family and good friends," James said.

Victoria nodded as they continued along their way, following Kiva the rest of the way to the hospital. Kiva knew her short cuts and easier ways.

The afternoon continued to drift on and on, more apartment buildings passed them by after turning down a street leading to an alleyway. Victoria mentally cursed herself when she saw the area.

~Flashback~

Yelling was heard coming from one of the buildings, although the door was shut, the yelling was quite clear. Behind closed doors a six year old Victoria was standing with her back to the wall, hands behind her while her foster parents were shouting at her. Glass littered the floor, especially at her feet, liquid was everywhere.

"How stupid can you be? Are you that bloody clumsy you dropped not one but three glasses? You're a worthless child!" the man yelled.

"I didn't mean to, they slipped from my fingers," whimpered Victoria in defence.

"No excuses! Pick up all the pieces and clean this mess up!" the woman shouted.

Victoria's lip trembled as she held back her tears. This was the eleventh foster family she was put in. They were just as horrible as all the rest. She felt a sting on her cheek as the woman slapped her across the face.

It was after dinner and the family was all in the living room watching movies. Victoria's foster mom made her get the glasses of water and the snacks, saying that it was her responsibility in this household.

Victoria's hand went to her cheek as she let out a whine of pain. Getting angry the woman grabbed Victoria's arm and pulled her away from the wall and swatted her butt. Victoria let out a sob as more screaming continued. Victoria cried as she continued to clean up the mess around her.

~End flashback~

Victoria let out a sharp breath as she shook her head. This section of the city was hell, she felt so shut out in life, fearing that no one could ever love her.

~Flashback~

Victoria ran down the back alley taking the short cut from Yumi's house after school. She was already half an hour late after dealing with traffic and a large amount of people walking about. Her six year old body was agile, making it easy to get past things with ease. She had been out of her last foster family for roughly two months and was now with her twelfth family.

The first two months seemed to have gone well, Victoria never giving them any grief, nor getting into trouble. Only problem she faced with now was how they would react when she showed up late and not saying anything to them.

The house came into view a head of her, sending her heart into a flutter at the realization of how close she was.

"Where have you been?" A woman asked looking cross as she stood outside the alley.

"I was at Yumi's," Victoria answered skidding to a halt before the woman.

"You didn't have the decency to phone? We have been worried sick about you. You should know better than pulling this kind of stunt. Or do you need to learn a lesson in that?"

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"You better believe it won't happen again," the woman said grabbing her ear and pulling her inside. Victoria went into tears as she tried to keep up with the woman. The woman shoved her inside making Victoria fall on to the ground. "The rules of the house are not that hard to follow."

Victoria ended up getting another spanking, this time she was unable to sit for an hour or so afterward.

~End flashback~

Victoria snapped out of her memories at the sound of beeping. They now stood outside the very house she recalled. Fear filled her that the family was still living there and that the Tenth Child could be there. She turned her head to see Yumi hitting random buttons on the Digivice. Apparently the peach dot appeared momentarily before disappearing again.

"Well…this thing is defective," Yumi groaned.

"I am foreseeing a destroyed Digivice on the ground any time soon," Motimon commented.

"It wouldn't have to be if it wasn't lying to me."

"Come on, we're not far from the hospital. After that you can smash it to pieces," Kiva replied.

Yumi began grumbling as she pocketed the tiny device and kept moving along with everyone else. Victoria couldn't hold back a tiny giggle at her anger. While it was not funny in the long run, the reactions were amusing to say the least.

"Keep your chin up girl, you'll find your Digimon in time," Victoria promised.

"I sure hope like hell."

"Enough of that. Think positive," Viximon said before gazing at her partner. "And you, enough memory lane. The stress is getting to you."

"All right, all right, no more. If I can help it."

Once more the group continued along their way down the street. Yumi took the Digivice out again and began playing with it trying to locate the map on it and hopefully be able to produce a map of Highton View Terrace. She knew it was a long shot but at least it would worth a try.

"You're not giving up are you?" Lalamon asked popping her head out of the bag.

"Not on your life. Besides, if we can actually get a map on this thing, it'll make searching a whole lot easier."

"Yumi's logic. Actually sounds like a good plan."

"Hey Kiva, what exactly is the hospital Kota is staying at?" Robert asked.

"Nerima General, it's another thirty minutes from here. I think we can make the time shorter by taking a few short cuts."

"Please tell me they are worth the short cuts and not these extra time ones," James complained.

"I assure you they are worth it. Sadly we have another little bit till we get to that point."

"I am just thankful it is a nice day to be doing this," Tora replied.

"If you jinx it you are dead."

Kiva wasn't kidding when she said that it would be another little while till they go through most of the city and could take the easier routes that cars could never be able to take. By this time, Ember and Johnny decided to just walk with them instead of hiding. Their identity wasn't a factor any longer now that they were away from Mr. Fujiyama. As for Bearmon and Penguinmon, the areas they were strolling down were clear sailing for the time being.

Victoria kept her eyes focused on the destination before her. She needed to keep her mind completely off her past as best as possible. No matter where she looked the memories came back to her. Throughout her time in foster care it wasn't just the parents that abused her, it was the children as well, from foster kids or the families actually children.

She let out a sigh as she reminded herself over and over again that she now had a loving family, was introduced to her own cousin, and had amazing friends. She considered herself lucky at the moment that she was out of that hellhole itself.

Time passed by quickly, the Digidestined were now within five blocks of the hospital. A sigh of relief escaped them that their journey was coming to a close. Truly, the distance of the Digital World from one point to another was great than this. The upside to the real world was the relief of not having any food on hand and no worry about where to sleep.

Johnny and Ember could see the hospital from their location in the sky. An uneasy feeling coming over them as a familiar, unwelcome presence came by. Ember gazed over at Johnny, eyes wide. Ghosts themselves, their loyalty no longer with the evil ones but sworn to protect Dani, just like Youngblood. Ember viewed herself as a free spirit, and Johnny just traveled without a care.

There was something about the hospital that had both of them on edge. Neither knew if it would be wise for the others to proceed onward. Knowing the triplets it wouldn't matter to them, Victoria on the other hand knew of the trouble that surrounded them.

"Hey, are you two daydreamers coming or what?" Yumi called as she looked at them still levitating in the air. Ember was the first to shake her head and look down at the waiting group. She hasn't been zoned out for long…could she have been? It didn't matter to her right now.

"Yeah, we're coming. Johnny let's go!" Ember elbowed Johnny in the ribs causing a yelp to escape him. He gazed down at the ground before them and blinked.

"How long did we space out for?"

"I am unsure at the moment. Come on, Victoria as a right to know what is going on."

The two Ghosts landed on the ground behind Robert and Yukito. Victoria, who was up front, turned back to face them, noticing an unsettling look in Ember's eyes. For the years that Victoria had known her, fear, anxiety or worry was never a key factor in the rocker's persona.

"You two all right?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah, for now anyway," Ember replied.

"No more lollygagging, we're almost there and I want to be out of there before sunset," Kiva insisted getting restless.

"Afraid of the dark?" James asked.

"More like longing for the comfort of my own bed."

"Oh I hear you on that one. I miss my bed," Kisho agreed.

"Can we not discuss that right now?" Yumi replied knowing she was missing her just as bad.

Further the group strolled down the street making the distance to the hospital shorter. It didn't take long for Kiva to spot something up ahead. Coming toward them were three older teenagers. One was gangly in size; he stood in the middle of his friends. He had black, stringy long hair. He wore dark wash, torn jeans that rested at his hip bones. The top was black with a skull on the front with tears and holes all over it. Chains were attached to the belt loops on the sides of his pants.

On the right of the boy was a much shorter teenager and round in size. His blonde hair was spiked up all over his head. He had a single earring in his right ear along with an eyebrow piercing on the left side. He wore black jeans, unlike his comrade; the pants were actually in good condition. The shirt was a torn sleeve back shirt with an unrecognizable image.

On the other side of the lanky boy was fairly tall boy, this one muscular in stature. His red hair was slicked back and sticking up in the back. Throughout both ears he had multi piercing everywhere along with a nose ring and shark bites (shark bites are two loop rings on either side of your lower lip). He was wearing dark blue jeans, holes all over matching the boy in the middle with similar chains on the side. The top was an open, sleeveless, black tank top.

Kiva narrowed her eyes as she glared at the boys before her. She came to a complete stand still as she hands balled into fists with anger. Pupmon felt the tension rise up in his partner as he looked up at her.

"Kiva, what's the matter?" Pupmon asked.

Kiva merely motioned toward the group. Anger raised inside of her seeing the three boys walk freely.

The three boys seemed oblivious to Kiva's presence and the rest of the group for the time being. Penguinmon and Bearmon were pulled behind Yukito and James to keep them away from view and told not to interfere.

"Who are those three?" Yumi asked.

**Kiva: The lanky one is Kenji. See that scar on his face? I gave it to him. The fat one is Taisho****…****he certainly let himself go. The last one is Natsuo.**

"Hey guys, look up ahead…pipsqueaks. Our day just got better," snickered the lanky boy Kenji.

"What do you think you children are doing our wandering the streets, especially in our neck of the neighbourhood?" Natsuo question.

"What concern is it of yours?" Yumi snapped crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ooh, we have a biter. What do you think you are going to do about it?"

Kiva stepped in front of Yumi, blocking the view of the three guys. Her golden-brown eyes were narrowed as a flicker of black over took the whites creating the wolf look.

"Oh shit. Sairento Kiba!" gasped Taisho stepping back.

Kenji's eyes widened when he saw her. It had been five years since they had laid eyes on the young girl. She was only a mere child of eight then, small and weak. Now she was taller, a ferocious outlook to her. Although thin, she was definitely not weak. Fear now filled the boys as she advanced upon them, lip curling back revealing two sharp canine fangs.

"We're sorry!" the three screamed, running off in the opposite direction afraid that Kiva would attack them again.

The group all sweat dropped seeing them run off in fear of their lives. It was off to see three eighteen year olds to be terrified of a thirteen year old.

"What in the world was that about?" James asked breaking the silence.

"Those are the jerks that put Kota in a coma and broke my arm and leg, five or six years ago. Oh and if you are wondering, after my wounds were fully healed, I put them all in the hospital with as many broken bones and stab wounds I could give them. Yes I used a real sword to fight them. It's a good thing I took care of them, or else…Kota's parents and my father would've killed them.

The group didn't know the true meaning by what Kiva meant by their parents would have killed them. They simply thought simply by shooting, it was way more than that.

"Is it true you almost killed someone before?" Tora asked.

"Yes. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. After everything happened and everyone speaking ill of Kota, I just snapped," Kiva replied with a wolfish grin. "I did have charges pressed against me. No one got punished, all due to the fact of what the group did to Kota and I two month prior."

"That is not fair they got away with it."

"Hence the reason I went after them."

**A/N: So here ends this chapter, the ending was kind of cut short, but that is how I wanted it to be. I know I said there would have been a week before any of the chapters would have been up. I was lucky to have my computer come back to life.**


	44. Hospital visit

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Night****'****s Oath, Emotions never lie and White Hunter for your awesome reviews. I am so glad you guys loved it. I cannot believe that it has been four years since starting this fan fiction. I am proud to have all of you as my reviewers and to all my subscribers. Once again I****'****ll be missing the anniversary date for my chapters but that is only a minor thing. So enjoy this next chapter, get ready to meet Kota****'****s parents.**

**Chapter 44**

**Hospital visit**

**Aug. 1 (3pm)**

~Flashback~

A warm summer sun cascaded down upon the trees shading the busy park. Laughter, screaming and running of children passed two young kids of eight, one a boy with shoulder length silver hair and red eyes and a girl with chest length lavender hair and golden brown eyes. Kiva and Kota had opted to take some personal time to themselves and actually enjoy a day at the park. Kiva thought it was high time to get out of the house while Aidan was at work. Kota himself wanted the fresh air and time with Kiva.

Although Kota was a vampire, he had immunity towards the sunlight. How that was possible even Kota was unsure. He just knew that the sun never totally affected him like it did with his parents.

Throughout their time dealing with the rush at school and the constant bullying, the two desperately needed their down time. For Kiva, she wasn't too concerned with what the student body said about her. She was used to the words. What bothered her most were those picking on Kota. The two were different, unique, the two shared in their own secrets, Kota the vampire who could endure the light and Kiva a loup garoux, although not a lot of people knew of that. The student body knew she had a fighting streak and that when pushed to the point she would reveal two sharp deadly fangs.

The two continued their way into the park, heading toward the free swing set. The jungle gym was surprisingly filled on the fine beautiful Saturday afternoon. For once the two friends were able to be children and actually have a carefree childhood. There were times when the two would cause mayhem, today was not the day.

"Kiva, come on, I want to see who can get the highest," Kota exclaimed pulling her hand as they ran to the swings.

**Kiva: Where did this energy come from?** Kiva signed when the two reached the swings.

"I guess I've been having it build up inside."

**Kiva: I should have realized.**

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" asked a thirteen year old boy with spiky red hair and a small build.

"Looks like the freaks have come out to play. Isn't that right Sairento Kiba?" a snide remark came from a short lean boy with blond hair.

Kiva narrowed her eyes at the name. For over a year or so a few of the bullies had adopted the nickname for her: Sairento Kiba. While it wasn't truly a horrible name, the fact that she would be referred to the name by her most hated enemies was enough to set her over the edge. The golden brown eyes turned completely gold as she got into a fighting position.

Kota placed a hand on her shoulder hoping to calm her down somehow. He knew the name bothered her; constantly he would try to keep her from hearing the name and going after the people almost instantly. The two had each others back and wouldn't let anything happen to each other.

"Why don't you get out of here?" Kota snapped stepping in front of Kiva, holding her back from making a terrible mistake.

"Ooh, is your boyfriend going to protect you? You vampire reject. I doubt you really are a real vampire. You'll be like dust by now. Isn't that right?" replied a lanky boy with black hair.

"Shut up!"

"Ooh, I think we hit a nerve, Kenji," snickered the short lean boy, Taisho.

"Leave us alone. We have done nothing to you." What was unknown to the two small friends was what hid behind the boys back.

"It's the fact that freaks like you should never exist. You deserve what is coming to you both," sneered the lanky boy, Kenji.

"Kiva, when I tell you, run. Run as fast as you can," Kota whispered.

**Kiva: I am not leaving you. You are not facing up against those jerks alone. I won****'****t allow it.**

"And I refuse to see you get hurt. I refuse to give them the benefit of the doubt that they can chase us away."

"Get them boys," Kenji ordered picking up his own metal baseball bat.

Kota's eyes went wide as he saw the other two grab their bats and held them up. Instead of backing away, both he and Kiva stood their ground in a fighting stance. Kota knew that he wasn't going to convince Kiva to run any more than he was convinced of himself that they were going to win.

The bats swung from either side of them causing Kota to grab Kiva's arms and pull her to the ground to narrowly miss being smacked in the side of the head by the blunt objects.

Both kicked out, aiming for the two boys' shins on either side of them. Their feet made contact with their shins knocking them to the ground. Kenji stood there glaring at them as he swung out, narrowly missing Kiva's head.

"Kiva…go, go!" Kota shouted as he pulled her arm urging her to run. Kiva stared at the older boy, anger radiated off her as she narrowed her eyes in fury, she opened her mouth letting out a silent snarl as the fangs began to grow. Kenji scoffed at her not taking her seriously as he went to swing again. Kota was able to pull her away just in time and was able to get some distance between them.

"There is no sense Kiva, it isn't going to help."

**Kiva: Bull! We can take those assholes!**

"We could die!"

**Kiva: Do you trust me?**

"Of course I do."

**Kiva: Then stand by me and we****'****ll attack them, show them what we are made of.**

Kota nodded, still unsure of what the outcome would be. He needed to trust that their strength combined would do the trick. Turning around the two faced their assailants with pure rage. The three older teens refused to back down. Kiva opted to charge after them first. Her speed was quick as she ran up to the leaded, leapt into the air and kicked him in the head.

A fight quickly pursued right afterwards, Kota jumped in as soon as a fist aimed for Kiva. Even at eight the two were able to protect themselves well. He easily kicked one of the older teens in the back of the leg just in time to hear a sharp crack of metal and bone connecting. Looking over, he saw Kiva grasping her wrist, pain written all over her face. Natsuo had swung his bat and made direct contact with the girl's wrist.

Kota rushed over to her side attacking the boys as best as he possibly could. He ended up taking as much of the blunt as possible. The sickening sound of bone against metal filled the air once more. For a moment, Kota thought that he was hit, the only problem was, and he felt no pain. Raising an eyebrow he turned his attention back toward Kiva who fell to the ground, she was seething with anger and pain as she grasped her ankle.

While the teenagers were focused on Kota, she opted to attack them while they were distracted. Cowardly to an extent but it was the only best offence she had. What she didn't realized was Kenji had come to realize of her movements and swung his bat at her, aiming for her ankle with full force as she went to kick him. The bones shattered with the hit making her useless to assist Kota.

Kota kept up his fight with the boys as best as possible. For some time he was able to keep them at bay. His efforts soon became futile as his body began to wear itself down and Kenji swung his bat at the back of his head. Kota let out gasping noises before falling to the ground going into a seizure mode, blood pouring from the wound.

Kiva watched frozen in horror from the spot on the ground mouthing profanity towards them in her own defence. In absolute fear she thought for sure she lost Kota.

After the boys had their fun kicking the lifeless boy and turned their attention toward Kiva and did the same to her. Someone finally got the nerve to call 911 once the boys left.

Kiva felt numb after the beating and only stared blankly at the world around her. Her body lay on the grass blood painting the grass a sickly red.

When the two were finally rushed to the hospital after fifteen minutes, Kota was declared to be in a critical condition and in a coma. He was lucky the hit to his head didn't kill him. Kiva ended up receiving twenty stitches and her bones had to get repaired. To say the least she remained in the hospital for a month letting her wounds heal.

During the first day after the surgery, the doctors were desperately trying to get her to speak to understand what had happened.

Kiva sat on the hospital bed, her leg in a cast and elevated with her arm in a cast as well and resting on her stomach, staring up at the doctor before her. It had been the fifth time the mad had come into the room and try something different with her opening up. All that got him was a blank face.

"Are you hungry?" the doctor asked after some silence.

Kiva shook her head as she folded her arms as best she could and leaned against the pillows.

"You have to eat. You want to get stronger again, right?"

Kiva merely shrugged, she was annoyed by the mans antics. All she wanted to do was see Kota. Unfortunately for her, no one in the damned hospital understood sign language and she didn't have any paper or pen at hand. She merely let out a silent sigh of annoyance.

"You know you can trust us. If it has anything that happened to you, you are more than welcome to confide in us."

Kiva rolled her eyes, at that moment she wanted her father at her bedside so some conversations could take place.

"Sir, we were able to contact the girl's father and the boy's parents, they'll be here in ten minutes," a nurse said poking her head into the room. She smiled softly at Kiva seeing the look in her eyes. "Your friend is in critical condition but we are making sure to make him stable. We'll have to keep an eye on him."

Kiva nodded as she rested back into her pillows more, still refusing to talk, giving no indication to the doctors what was wrong with her. She wanted desperately to see her friend and see for herself what was going on.

After some time, Adrian, Kiyo and Gin came running into her room, shock on their faces. The shock wore off in replace with relief that she was okay.

Adrian went over to his daughter and embraced her, all the fear that something severe had happened drained away now that he had her.

"I am so happy you are okay. Kiva, what happened?" Adrian asked.

Kiva looked up at her father, Gin, and Kiyo, the looks on their faces broke her heart. The fact that she had to recollect everything that happened nearly killed her, she also had to tell them their son was now in critical condition and in a coma.

"Mr. Inuzia, perhaps you can get some information from her. She hasn't spoken since waking up."

"I apologize, I should have mentioned; Kiva is mute. She can hear everything you say, she communicates via sign language or writing things down."

"That I wasn't aware of."

"Most wouldn't. Kiva, can you tell us what happened please?" Adrian insisted. Kiyo and Gin sat on the other side of the bed; Gin placed her hand gently on Kiva's hand.

Kiva nodded her head as she went into explanation of everything that happened, from the fighting to being attacked by metal baseball bates. She told them that she had to watch, horrified of her friend being knocked out. Gin and Kiyo exchanged looks momentarily before looking over at Kiva once more.

"You two were very brave to stand up to them," Gin said.

**Kiva: I should have protected him better.**

"Kiva, no one is blaming you for what happened. He is lucky to have you," Kiyo remarked.

"You two go see Kota, we'll be in shortly," Adrian insisted to the two of them.

"That'll be a good idea. Kiva, stay strong dear."

The two left the room following the nurse out of the room and lead them to Kota's room.

"They got the jump on you didn't they?"

**Kiva: Sadly.**

"I am sure you'll get your vengeance one day."

Kiva merely grinned at that, she loved the fact that her father allowed her to fight and stand up for herself. He taught her to be strong and independent.

~End Flashback~

Tora couldn't help but keep an eye on Kiva with great hesitancy. She had dealt with her many of time but never did she expect something like taking a life. She was already extremely cautious of the girl and hoped over the course of the summer she wouldn't snap and attack them.

"Kiva, what is Sairento anyway, and how exactly did you get it?"

"It means silent fang and isn't it obvious?" Kiva grinned a bit revealing two sharp canine teeth, longer than normal humans. Everyone except Yumi, Victoria, the ghosts and their Digimon gasped and took a step back. "Chill, if I wanted to harm you in anyway, I would have done so ahead of time. Truthfully, I wouldn't hard any of you."

"Well that's a relief."

"If you say so. That name was whispered throughout the school halls. As much as the name actually suits, I took great offence to the name. Something about it especially by them. For now that's all in the past. No need to worry about it now."

"She has a point. Come on, our concern is going to the hospital," Yumi spoke up feeling comfortable with the fangs.

There was a silent agreement from the group as everyone continued their way through the city towards the hospital. Kiva still harboured ill will towards the boys; while the three were lucky enough not to be killed, Kiva still seethed at the fact that they were cleared of everything. Oh how she would relish in the thought in seeing the cold, lifeless bodies sprawled on the ground before her. With that thought in her head, a cruel smirk appeared on her face.

Pupmon raised an eyebrow at her as he jumped into her arms. "Kiva, why are you allowing those thoughts to plague your mind?"

'_They deserve to rot for the things they have done. It is not fair that they get cleared of all charges and I am the one to nearly get charged myself,__'_ Kiva replied opting to be discreet over what she said.

'_That they do, but remember, you are better than them.__'_

The journey to the hospital was shorter than it truly was. Ember and Johnny opted for strolling next to the group over flying seeing as they were nearing human central. As for the Digimon, the two bigger ones were once again turned invisible.

Yumi looked at the large building before her and let out a sigh as she moved next to Kiva. Her grip on the bag tightened greatly, an anxiety attack was building up inside of her being close to the hospital. This was never really one of her favourite places.

Victoria, Robert and James all seemed to share in the same feeling as Yumi as their own uneasy feeling kicked in. None of them really had good memories in any hospital and it truly showed now.

Yukito squeezed Robert's hand feeling his tension mount. Yukito, himself, knew how much Robert detested hospitals. Any time he had to go, Yukito was right beside him, giving him all the encouragement as possible.

"You four going to be okay?" Ember asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, as long as the visit is quick," squeaked James.

Johnny tried so hard to hold back his laughter at the sound of the squeak.

Kiva rolled her eyes wishing that they would be a little more mature than that.

Stepping through the front doors, an array of noise filled the ears of the Digidestineds, ghosts and Digimon. It seemed to be rather busy that day, from broken limbs, illness or the elderly. As if by an invisible force, the group got closer to the triplets. It was definitely going to be an interesting visit to say the least.

As for Johnny and Ember, something seemed to strike them as their eyes wandered around the hallway they were in. There were pictures of all the nurses and doctors, the current leader of Japan, random art ones. Signs indicating each floors purpose. Along the one wall however sent shivers down their spines. There was a picture of Vlad Masters shaking hands with one of the staff members of the hospital. The caption underneath read: Vlad Masters donates a million Yen to the hospital, allowing for more equipment. Also has become a greater contributor to the fine hospital. In other words, Vlad had an ownership over the hospital.

Ember gulped as she exchanged looks with Johnny who had the same feelings. Thinking quickly the two made their way back to the group and stood by Victoria as the others were trying to figure out what they needed to do.

"So what floor is Kota on anyway?" Mark asked.

"If I remember correctly, the third, but I could be wrong."

"Okay, so the next question is where is the information desk for this certain thing?" Robert asked.

"Victoria, we need to talk to you," Johnny said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It should be over there," Yukito pointed to the right.

"Just a minute Johnny," Victoria hushed.

"I thought I saw one over there."

"I think that is a different one."

"Can we please just ask someone?"

"Victoria, this is serious."

Victoria sighed as she turned to Ember and Johnny, not noticing their looks right away. Ember grabbed one of her hands and pulled her with Johnny's help to a secluded area. Victoria let out a squawk from the pull.

"What is so important you had to pull me aside that could not wait till later?"

"Vlad Masters owns this hospital."

Victoria's eyes widened at the name as her mouth dropped open. "V…Vlad Masters. Owns. Owns the?" she questioned as she began to stutter.

Ember nodded slowly. "We just found this out. There's a sign over there that explains that he has donated a large amount of money and has become a great contributor in more ways."

"Oh my gods. So he has control in the States and here? Oh this just got better. I just hope for the sake of Dani she doesn't know this. That also means, keep your mouths shut."

"Hey, where did Victoria go?" Robert asked.

"Right here. So…did you guys ask where Kota's room is?"

"Fifth floor. It's room 1506."

"Let's go."

Making their way to the nearest elevator, the group got inside and patiently waited (or as patiently as possible). Shaomon pushed himself as close to Kisho's legs as possible as he started hyperventilating.

"Shaomon, take it easy," Viximon soothed going over to her claustrophobic friend.

"The walls are closing in, it's getting really, really hard to breathe. I have to get out, I have to get out!"

"We really need to start planning these better.

"You think? Shaomon, take deep calming breaths, we'll be out soon enough."

Sure enough, a moment later the elevator dinger as the doors opened on the fifth floor. Relief filling the Digidestineds that no other humans were around. Ember and Johnny had no time to wrestle the ever frantic dog Digimon.

"Oh sweet mercy above, air, air!" Shaomon cheered diving over of the elevator.

"Shaomon, easy, they don't exactly allow dogs in the hospital," Kisho hushed kneeling next to him and petting his head. "You are safe. Remember that."

Shaomon nodded as he relaxed into Kisho's hand. His heart began to calm down and breathing became normal again. As soon as he was calm, Kisho picked him up in his arms as he faced the group.

"Its right down this hall," Kiva pointed to the left.

The group continued to follow her lead as the ghosts kept a few of the Digimon invisible. The hallway was eerily quiet, except the odd sound of beeping from machines.

Up ahead, stepping out of Kota's room were two people with silver hair. The woman had chest length hair and bright red eyes, while the man had shoulder length messy hair. Kiva stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw them.

"Kiva, who are they?" James asked.

"Kiva? Is that you? Look how much you've grown since the last time we've seen you. It has been what? 5 years?" the woman gasped before Kiva could say anything.

**Kiva: Yeah, even though it seems so much longer, wouldn****'****t you say?**

"How come you have stopped coming by?" asked the man.

**Kiva: My parents decided to move to Odaiba. Even though it****'****s an hour, it****'****s difficult to get form one location to the next.**

"I am glad to know that you are safe. How are things with your mom?"

**Kiva: The same old issues. It doesn****'****t cease.**

"Adrian knew how to keep her in line."

Kiva nodded silently as her eyes downcast at the sound of her father's name.

"He's looking out for you spiritually. Don't let it get to down."

**Kiva: Thank you. Oh****…****where are my manners? Kiyo, Gin, these are my friends Victoria, Yukito and Yumi and new friends I****'****ve met at camp. Well, more like acquaintances; Robert, James, Mark, Tora and Kisho.**

"It is lovely to meet you all. I am Gin and this is my husband Kiyo."

"Hello," the group chorused.

"Even though Kota still hasn't woken from his coma. I am positive he would be looking forward to having you around. Are you just here for the day?"

**Kiva: Yeah, we****'****re heading home soon. I just wanted to see Kota again.**

What neither Gin nor Kiyo knew what that Kiva had been able to see Kota in the Digital World and spend time with him. Kiva so desperately wanted to tell them that he was doing well and that he was a fighter, but didn't want to get into the explanation of it all.

"We'll let you all go in. Gin and I are just on our way out," Kiyo said with a smile.

**Kiva: It was so good to see the two of you again.**

The group made their way toward the room, smiling graciously up at Kiyo and Gin and nodded to them. Yumi, who was near the middle of the group got stopped by an outstretched hand. Looking over at the owner, she saw Kiyo looking down at her their eyes locked.

"If you wouldn't mind staying back for a moment. We would love to talk with you privately."

"Of…course."

As the remaining Digidestined entered the room, Yumi looked up at Kota's parents. She could distinctly smell the scent of vampire on them. Although it wasn't a decaying smell that Myotismon sent off, there was definitely a tangy smell of blood and something else she couldn't put her finger on.

"You do know why we pulled you aside, right?"

"I have a feeling."

"There is a strong scent of wolf on you. There is only one other person that has that scent."

"Then you should know I have no ill will towards your kind. I do know that there are some in my pack that have issues with vampires. Please, understand I am nothing like them. I respect everyone the same. No mater what the situation. You trust Kiva, right? You can trust me as well. I would never do anything to harm you or your family."

"I have never heard anything more sincere then that. I don't wish for anything to happen with any of you. Take care of them; you have such a strong spirit in you. You are meant for greater things."

"Thank you. That means a lot to hear that."

Gin and Kiyo nodded at her as she disappeared through the door. The others were all surrounding Kota's bed. Kiva lightly ran her thumb over the back of his hand. Yumi squeezed in next to Victoria and Yukito and looked down at the thirteen year old Kota who was a thirteen year old Kota hooked up to a ventilator, heart monitor and an IV.

"What did they want?" Victoria asked.

"I'll explain when we get out," Yumi responded as her eyes scanned over Kota's boy. Compared to his eight year old body, he looked overly adorable and really handsome. A soft shade of pink began to form on her cheeks.

"Oh, how wrong I was to doubt the adorableness that is Kota."

Kiva turned her head to glare at her, her golden brown eyes turning pure gold in a threatening manner. How dare someone try to make a move one her boyfriend? She normally wasn't jealous or territorial, but when it came to her lover it was a whole different story. At first Yumi didn't notice the look her friend was giving her as her eyes continued to move over Kota more. It wasn't until the tension got worse when she finally looked up and took a step back.

"Okay, okay, no more googly eyes. I swear."

Kiva gave a sharp nod as she turned to Kota again and lightly ran her fingers over his face. With her other hand one his hand she began to sign. **I promise we will see each other soon enough and I don't just mean in the Digital World or you simply lying in a coma. I have confidence that you will be up and about soon enough. I am sure of it. Know that I love you and you are always in my heart.**

The others just stood there trying not to read the sign language knowing that it was personal, only between Kiva and Kota. Most of them blinked at Yumi trying to understand what had happened. A few didn't see that she was freaking out over the boy.

The room fell silent as the group stood around Kota, the smaller Digimon sitting around him on the bed.

"Why isn't he waking up?" asked Motimon lightly poking his arm.

"He's in a coma, meaning he won't wake up. He was damn lucky it wasn't anything more severe. He hasn't been reactive to any of their attempts. He was lucky he was out of it during the tests, he would have smacked them in a heartbeat," Kiva explained.

"Is that what those three boys did?" Tora asked.

"Sadly. Five years and still no response. We had hoped that it would have been six months. We were all wrong. Dad and I stayed with him for hours on end when Kiyo and Gin were at work. I felt horrible that I wasn't able to visit after the move."

"No one blames you Kiva," Viximon and Pupmon said.

"Right…"

"Come on, let's get out of here before we completely lose it," Yumi suggested.

"She has a very valid point."

The others all agreed, while Kiva was hesitant to leave Kota's side. It had been so long since she had been at his bedside. She would have loved to have stayed permanently but knew that they had important matters to deal with.

**Kiva: Kota, I promise, when I can, I will return to your side. For now, we have a mission to complete.**

Gathering their Digimon and stashing them securely in the bags, the nine Digidestined and ghosts took their leave from the room and headed back down the hall towards the elevator.

Once outside, the group found a secluded grassy area just outside the hospital and sat down in a circle. Everyone was eyeing Yumi, wanting an explanation as to what was going on.

"So what exactly did Gin and Kiyo want?"

"You guys will find out soon enough…might as well spill now. They stopped me due to the fact that they could smell wolf on me. Obviously their trust in wolves is very minimal. Only having a certain amount of wolf friends. They didn't know if they could trust me or not."

There were blank stares from the group excluding Kiva, Victoria, Yukito and the ghosts. Yumi let out a sigh knowing that the others didn't know of her secrets. She had to swallow her pride and just tell them. She didn't care what their reactions would be.

"Okay, the truth is, I'm a loup garoux, meaning I'm a wolf of sorts. My father is one as well. I wasn't going to say anything till I was ready but after the conversation, it's better to tell you all. Don't worry; I would never turn on friends. I can easily turn on command, I don't rely on the full moon," Yumi explained.

"That is good to hear."

"I am amazed you opened up like that."

"They needed to know. Oh and a quick thing. This does not go anywhere. Understood? School already thinks me as a freak."

"Secret is safe with us."

"All right, goal right now…getting home. So much traveling…I don't suppose walking is in order."

"Not unless you are trying to kill us."

Yumi rested right back on to the grass and looked up at the clear blue sky trying to come up with a plan.

The dark lord grinned to himself as he looked down at what remained of the boy before him. Finally, blood had been able to help replenish his thirst at long last. Taking the opportunity, he had fallen asleep despite the remains he had created. Unknown to him thus far, the chosen children too had returned to Earth.

**A/N: So here ends the chapter and what appears to be****…****can it be****…****a cliff-hanger. So this just show just a little bit more in what to expect later in the chapters. Please note I am not taking any references to Twilight when it comes to the vampires and loup garoux (werewolves). Those are more toward the books written by Anne Rice, Underworld, and obviously Blood and Chocolate. As well, I will have the characters bios up on my page to show more about them and a glimpse at their parents. More will be explained in two chapters. Next chapter starts the search for away home. Please be advised, while home, the chapters could be escalated to twenty plus chapters and introduces more characters. Oh and as a bonus, nothing to do with the fanfic, I have the Digimon Season 1 on DVD! Yay!**

**Kiva: You said he was adorable. Now****…****now this?**

**Yumi: His eight year old self was adorable. He is gorgeous. I didn****'****t mean to make goo goo eyes at him.**

**Ember: You were having a moment.**

**Yumi: Oh don****'****t even start.**

**Youngblood: Wait****…****what do you mean more characters? I feel like I****'****m being replaced.**

**Johnny, Ember, Yumi, Victoria: Stop being a Drama Queen.**

**Me: Just a certain ghost pup.**

**Youngblood: Oh man. **

**Dani: Yay!**


	45. Nearly home free

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, Night Oaths, and We are made of Broken dreams for your awesome reviews, Night****'****s Oath, thank you for being so patient with me lol. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, definitely going to have an Easter present for you all. I****'****m letting you all know, there are going to be random things I****'****m adding in here throughout the chapters. My friend and I were watching the Digimon episodes and we are just cracking up, from our commentaries I am adding them to the chapters to make it even better. I am also sorry, while writing this chapter I was listening to Slipknot so my anger levels rose. As for the tea bit, my friend and I go through the same thing during Anime North. We get a little moody. Also note, I know it****'****s more a Canadian business, there is going to be a random Tim Horton's in this story lol I couldn****'****t resist.**

**Chapter 45**

**Nearly home free**

**Aug 1****st**** (4pm)**

Myotismon's eyes narrowed down to slits after being woken from his sleep by DemiDevimon. A small communicator in front of him as he glared at Demidevimon. "So you're telling me Taomon has appeared in the real world?"

"Right!" the little bat Digimon nodded. "And the eight children have appeared in the real world as well master!"

Myotismon scowled a bit and snapped at Demidevimon. "Hasn't the tenth child been found yet?"

"Er…" DemiDevimon had been afraid to answer that question. "N-not quite yet, my lord, but any minute now! Guaranteed! We've have spies in every possible place the little brat could be hiding! We got it covered, no…" Demidevimon gulped as Myotismon gave him an unimpressed look. "…problem…"

"MEANWHILE," Myotismon snapped, "we're not the only ones looking for him, are we? You dolt! Hurry up!"

"Got it master!"

"Can we get a snack before searching?" Tora asked hopefully as the group stood outside a large concrete building with a pole containing a clock on top. Stairs led downwards, with crowds of people shoving past them to get through.

"Hey! Standing here!" Yumi yelped as one man pushed her rudely out of the way. Victoria grabbed her shoulder to keep her from pouncing back on him.

"There's no time!" Victoria told Tora sternly. "We've got to get to Odaiba and find the tenth child! Before someone else does!"

"How can we be sure the tenth child is in Odaiba again?" Mark demanded.

"Look, as we have said countless of times before. That is our only best lead. We've got no other choice in the matter!" Yumi shot back, daggers flying from her eyes.

"How exactly do we get there?" Tora whined as she followed the chaos triplets downstairs. Exhaustion was getting everyone. Yumi was in dire need of her caffeine fix (tea), while everyone of course needed food and bed. Yumi couldn't stand for any of the shit that the group was going through. One wrong move and someone would end up be beaten to a pulp. "Do you think there are any fast food places along the way?"

Yumi turned to face her completely deadpanned. "Are you freaking kidding me? Would you knock it off?" her voice was full of exasperation as she shoved open the door at the bottom of the stairs, wincing as a large woman's suitcase collided with his knee. "Fucker! Son of a bitch. Ever freaking look?" she muttered as the woman passed by mumbling an apology. "Right now, we only have enough money for our subway tickets!"

"Seriously? The subway?" James moaned. "My parents would never let me ride the subway by myself."

"Are you by yourself? No!" Yumi snapped. "You're with us! Now stick together everyone. It will get kind of confusing down here!"

"Are subways like regular trains? Do they have snack bars?"

Yumi stared a head for a moment before turning to face the girl, her hands raised ready to strangle her. Victoria placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Before asking for a severe death wish. I would just drop it!"

She wasn't kidding; over hundreds of people crowded the skinny hallways. One on side there was flashing machines and on the other side, the train tracks.

Yukito groaned as he stood next to Robert staring at the bunch of squiggly lines on the wall. Frustration built up inside of him as he tried in desperation to follow the tracks and ended up losing himself part way through. "Complete and utter ridiculousness."

Tora huffed and folded her arms standing in the middle of the group refusing to even attempt searching. "Okay, so NOW what do we do besides starve to death?"

Kiva grabbed on to Yumi's arm without so much as looking away from the map.

"I'm just figuring it out," Robert mentioned as he was busy typing on his laptop. "Okay. That'll work. Now, the fastest route to Odaiba is to take the Number twelve train to Nakano and transfer to the Marunouchi line, then transfer to the Ginza line, and get off at Shinbashi."

Victoria blinked as she turned to Yumi and Kiva. "Did either of you…understand any of that?" Victoria had never ridden on the subway, she would rather walk or bike the entire city. It was long but the subways were not her thing.

Yumi shrugged. "Sounds simple enough." Yumi on the other hand had a great experience with the subway system. She knew most of the areas and where they led.

"It does?" Victoria squeaked.

"We just have to figure out the right fare." Victoria watched as she walked over to one of the blinking machines and pressed a few buttons. Victoria's eyes widened as it started to whirr before spitting out an orange slip of paper.

"Your ticket," Yumi explained, holding it up to Victoria. "You can't ride the train without one."

Viximon blinked poking her head out of Victoria's bag. "What's a ticket?"

"What's a train?"

"Oh my gods, it's like our trip into the Digital World," Victoria chuckled. "We will explain later. Seriously, you need to remain quiet. We're not in the best places for any talking."

Viximon sunk back into the bag, a look of sadness in her eyes. Victoria felt sympathy for her and pet her head. "You're not in trouble. I assure you. As long as you don't go overboard, you can have some of my chocolate stash."

That got her attention quickly as she dove for the bag and started to go through all the goodies. Victoria chuckled shaking her head.

Kiva got her ticket with ease and held Pupmon close to her. "Now what?"

"We play the waiting game from hell."

Victoria stood over the line in front of the tracks and peered over in the opposite direction, where a hole of blackness glared back at her. She had a sudden recall of Underworld of Selene traveling through the subway in pursue of a Lycan. She wanted to recreate the scene but didn't want to be killed in the process.

In a blur, the train roared past her in a rush of air and a squeal of rage, as the brakes were hit. She couldn't brace herself quick enough as she stepped back and nearly stumbled forward. "Crap!"

"TORI!" Yumi grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back just in time. "No death wises please!"

Victoria chuckled a bit before face palming as she held on to her friend's arms for support as her legs tried to get back to normal.

"It's too crowded…too many people. It's getting really suffocating down here," Shaomon panicked at Kisho's feet as he started to shake uncontrollably.

"Shaomon, take it easy. It's going to be okay."

"I need to get out of here," he hyperventilated scanning the area for any way to escape the dreaded place.

Surprisingly, the people around them weren't paying attention to the frantic dog Digimon. Kisho knelt next to him rubbing his head.

"Deep breaths, deep breaths."

Pupmon and Viximon couldn't help but go over to him and try to insist in calming him down. Kiva and Victoria both looked back feeling bad for him. The only upside that the Digimon could be grateful for was they weren't stuck in a confiding box.

Ember and Johnny looked over at each other with the same thought in their heads. Should they intervene and make Shaomon invisible or leave it alone?

"Attention, attention. Number 12 train now arriving at platform 7."

Viximon lifted her head to the sound. "Where'd that voice come from?"

Wanyamon poked his head out of Yumi's bad and blinked. "You heard it too? Then it's not just in my head!"

Another roar echoed from the tunnel and Viximon's eyes widened as two glowing lights appeared. "Something's coming!"

"It's one of Myotismon's goons!" Wanyamon spat. Yumi rolled her eyes as she placed a hand firmly over the flap of the bag to keep him inside.

"I swear they've gone delusional."

Pupmon bit down on Viximon's tail just as she went to investigate further. She let out a yelp of pain turning around to look at Pupmon.

"Did you guys eat something funky?" Victoria asked picking the two Digimon up in her arms as Pupmon licked at Viximon's tail in apology.

With them safely in her arms, the group climbed on to the train. "Perhaps the chocolate was a bad idea," Victoria sighed sitting down. Viximon curled up into her partner as Pupmon curled into Viximon.

**Kiva: Digimon love****…****adorable.**

"Those two are always looking out for each other," Yumi replied sitting next to Kiva, a smile on her face at the cuteness.

"For the ones who don't usually go for the adorable or cute things, you sure go along with this," Tora piped up.

"This is completely different."

The loud wailing of a baby echoed across the cab jolting Viximon and Pupmon from their rest. An exhausted looking lady stood in front of them trying to soothe her daughter. "There now Moxie…hush."

Victoria turned to Kiva gently nudging her, who had her earplugs in, to take Pupmon from her lap. Kiva nodded taking the dozy Pupmon into her arms as Victoria stood up and nodded politely towards the young woman. "Here. Take my seat."

The woman blinked before smiling. "Really? Thank you! Wasn't that nice of the girl?" she cooed to the still sobbing baby. "We've been on our feet all day."

The baby girl, Moxie, stopped crying suddenly as she spotted Viximon's sleeping form. She stared in awe for a few seconds then grabbed her by the stem and started yanking.

Viximon's eyes popped open at the feel of someone tugging on her. Victoria let out a gasp as Viximon so desperately fought back a yelp of pain.

"Uh…excuse me?" she asked nervously as the baby continued to yank harder and harder.

The woman's eyes opened and she frowned looking at the little girl. "Oh Moxie, what are you doing now?" she asked in exasperation, trying to undo the baby's hand from Viximon. "No…honey that's the girl's toy! Sweetie, let go before you break it!"

Victoria swallowed as she kept a hold of Viximon, silently praying to her. _'__Just hold on a little longer sweetie. Just hold on.__'_

Pupmon opened his eyes hearing the commotion and Motimon winced. "Ouch. That's got to hurt."

"Oh, come on Moxie! Please! Please!"

Moxie ignored her mom and kept yanking harder and harder, Pupmon felt a pang of sympathy for his little fox. She had been through so much already. Viximon, having enough, closed her eyes before yelping in pain.

"HEY! WILL YOU LET GO OF ME!"

Yumi, who had been biting her lip watching the scene, widened her eyes, as did everyone else. Oh they were done for now.

Silence filled the car in an instant as everyone was staring at them, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

Moxie stared at Viximon as she slowly let go of her tail, her eyes were huge in shock.

"I…" Victoria coughed unsure of the words. "Guess my toy didn't like you pulling on it," she finished weakly coming up with something quick.

"You hear that!" one boy shouted, pointing to Victoria. He was one that was going to grow into a smartass. "That stuffed animal talked!"

The other Digidestineds shifted uncomfortably in their seats almost as if they were ready to bolt.

Victoria swallowed uneasily, eyes darting over to Yumi and Kiva for any sign of help. She felt trapped and couldn't figure out a way to make up a lie on the spot. Suddenly her eyes widened as a thought dawned on her. "Hah!" she laughed. "See, I knew I could finally pull it off after all these years."

Yumi turned to Kiva blinking. Had she lost it? Perhaps all that time in the sun truly fried her brain completely?

"Fooled them, didn't we?" she continued jokingly before clasping a hand over Viximon's mouth. "Play along…you are so getting a treat after all this," Victoria muttered into Viximon's ear.

"Come on, the baby pulled your tail because she likes you."

"Oh really?" she answered in best rehearsed voice.

"There's no reason to bite the poor thing's head off!"

"Oh! I'm very sorry I shouted."

The stunned silence soon turned into laughter. The group all breathed a sigh of relief.

"See that son?" the man said to the boy who had yelled earlier. "She's just pretending the doll talked. It's called ventriloquism. She's pretty good at it!"

Victoria inwardly rolled her eyes despising the incompetence of the father and son. She was just happy that she was able to fool those simple minded people. She loathed the personality that she had to take on; it made her drop down to the other's level.

"Wow! That's really good!"

"I actually thought it was the doll talking!"

'_Yes, eat it all up you ignoramuses; just believe what your tiny brains want you to believe.__'_ By this time Victoria was seething inside. Her mood swings were definitely getting a hold of her and it was just going to prove worse as the day…no week went on.

"I WANT ONE!"

"What?"

"Daddy, give me that toy! I want that toy! If I don't get it now…I'm going to start screaming at the top of my lungs!"

'_Oh my gods, it__'__s Veruca in male form,__'_ thought Victoria as the thought of the spoiled brat from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory who wanted everything in sight and got her own way.

Victoria tensed as the man, who talked to the boy, strolled over to her. Her grip on Viximon tightened protectively; it was the bus station all over again with the Digivices. "Excuse me young lady—" Young lady? Was he kidding? "Can I ask where you bought that toy? I need one right away!"

'_No, what you need is some balls to control your son and tell him no every now and again,__'_ Victoria spat.

"Um…w-where I…bought it?"

'_No, I won__'__t tell you where I bought it. It is one of a kind. I am thankful your son isn__'__t a Digidestined, he would have his Digimon dead in a week.__'_

"What is going through her head?" Yumi whispered to Kiva after she took out the ear bud.

Kiva shrugged in response as she watched Victoria have an internal war. Or trying to come up with a feasible lie.

"It truly cannot be that hard of a question, is it? Come on! Where'd you find it?"

Just at that point as Victoria went to retort, the announcer on the PA system proclaimed. "This stop is Nerima. Please watch your step. Again-this stop is Nerima."

Victoria's eyes widened with a quick idea. "THE NERIMA DEPARTMENT STORE!"

The man blinked incredulously at her. "What? Nerima? Thanks! Come on son!"

The entire group of people in the car bolted out the doors, leaving the group finally, finally alone. The woman from earlier smiled one more time at Victoria before taking her leave. "Thanks again!"

Kiva groaned as she put the ear bud back into her ear and searched through her play list on her iPod. "Too much drama."

"At least that is one way to clear a car," Ember laughed as she leaned on the rail in front of her.

"I seriously hate kids. That boy needs to learn some manners and know that you can't always get your own way," Victoria muttered, collapsing in the seat next to Kiva as a heavy beat escaped the little buds.

"Viximon, are you all right?" Pupmon asked jumping back into Victoria's lap and nuzzled the little yellow fox.

"My tail has been through a lot. What is everyone's obsession with it?"

"Besides the fact it's cute?" Pupmon responded licking her face.

"Oh hush," Viximon blushed.

"What was going through that head of yours?" Yumi asked out of curiosity.

"Urgh…I think it's close to that time. Anyway…just fuming at the boy and his father."

"You did good to keep your cool."

"Oh you would be surprised."

"How much longer?" Kisho asked rubbing his eyes.

Robert's eyelids were drooping as he leaned against Yukito's shoulder. "We get off at…Nakano."

"Okay…Nakano."

Victoria looked around lethargically as everyone seemed to be drifting off into sleep. Yumi appeared to be fighting against sleep and desperately clinging to alertness. Even during their trip, she fought tooth and nail to stay awake. It was definitely time for rest to come to all of them. Victoria curled up a bit before slipping into her own sleep.

Ember rested her head in the comfortable notch on Johnny's shoulder. He yawned, wrapped his arm around her, as he pulled her close to him. The two snuggled together, drifting off into much needed sleep.

Shaomon's ears perked up as the announcer came back on and spoke up again. "This stop is Nakano. Please watch your step. Again, this stop is Nakano."

He jumped awake looking around, heart going a mile a minute in fear. He turned around and nudged at Kisho's chest with his nose. "Hey! Wakey wakey!"

Kisho just groaned, his eyes remaining firmly shut.

"Kisho!"

"…"

"This is our stop!" Penguinmon commented as the doors slid open. "Yukito…hey! Here's our stop!"

The commotion for the other Digimon roused Pupmon from his own sleep, his face buried in Viximon's fur. He looked around blurry eyed before looking up at his partner, who had her eyes closed and the music still blaring.

'_Kiva, I think we are supposed to be leaving!__'_ Pupmon attempted through the telepathy. The music however seemed to block out all connections. His ears pinned back as the doors slid shut and the subway continued on.

"This stop is Shinjuku!" The announcer proclaimed as the train stopped with a bump that made Yumi jump awake, eyes opening in alarm. "The end of the line. Again this stop is Shinjuku. Please exit."

'_Wait__…__did she just say? Oh for fucks sakes__…'_ Yumi groaned.

James yawned as he slowly stretched. "What's…going on?" his eyes flickered to the sign above the door, and he let out a strangled gasp as the name Shinjuku shone in bright gold letters. Yumi on the other hand was in a frantic getting Victoria and Kiva awake.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"How did we miss our stop?" Tora squealed indignantly as everyone piled out the front doors.

"All of you slept right through it!" Penguinmon piped up.

"We tried to wake you up. You are all heavy sleepers," Pupmon agreed.

Kiva blinked down at him, an annoyed look in her eyes, the music still playing. Pupmon batted his own ear indicating the music. "It blocked everything out."

"Look, there is no sense in putting out the blame. Right now we have to think logically as to what is going on," Ember mentioned.

Yumi paced on the one side with Victoria who looked like she was ready to lose it.

"I need to find a bathroom…fast," Yumi squeaked quietly.

"You aren't the only one."

"Yukito…tell the others to wait for us, Victoria and I are going to find the girls room."

Yukito gave a little grunt in acknowledgement and waved her off, sleepiness filling his eyes still.

The two girls took off into the crowd in search of a nearby washroom. It was unknown to them that Yukito never truly heard everything that was said to him.

"What now? Go back to our stop?"

Robert shook his head. "No. It's out of our way, but I think we can change trains here and be okay."

Ember and Johnny stared around at the area they crowded in. Boredom struck them easily as everyone figured out what to do. Rising into the air after turning invisible, the two tried to see if there was away to get out, the area was getting far too crowded for their liking.

Looking down after sometime, a groan escaped Ember as she nudged Johnny in the arm. A confused look filled his face as he turned to face Ember who face palmed.

"What is it?"

Ember pointed below them. "They disappeared, are they imbeciles or something?"

"Do they ever learn? Honestly. So what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to see if I can locate Yumi and Victoria. You have the option of going with the big group or going with Yukito and Robert. That is if you can find them."

Johnny sighed as he hung his head in exasperation. "Sure, put me between a rock and a hard place."

Ember laughed as she patted his cheek. "Have fun."

What sounded like a little growl echoed as James, Mark, Kisho, Tora and Kiva were walking back down the crowded hallways. "How much longer?" Wanyamon whined. "I'm getting hungry Mark."

"I'm starving."

"It can wait," James commented picking up Bearmon.

Pupmon let out a groan as he nudged against Kiva's leg; she was still listening to her music, not even paying attention to the group around her. She didn't even know that not everyone was in their group.

"I'm getting hungry too, you know!" Mark replied holding Wanyamon close.

"I'm visualizing cheeseburgers," Tora moaned. James slowly came to a stop.

"Tora, you are not helping in the matters," Kisho said.

Kiva blinked her eyes finally returning to the real world and took an ear bud out and lowered her head. _'__What__'__s the matter?__'_

"I think we might be heading to find some food soon. Sadly we have another problem."

'_What other problem?__'_

"Victoria and Yumi are no where to be found."

'_Excuse me?__'_ Looking around at the small group, Kiva rolled her eyes. She thought the entire time everyone was together. Kisho had grabbed on to her hand and pulled her along with them afraid she would get lost. Pupmon was unable to get a hold of her to tell her that Yumi and Victoria weren't there.

'_Oh, this is unbelievable.__'_

Yukito cringed as a burly man crashed into him. "Ouch! Damn it! This place is a blasted zoo!" he seethed grabbing on to Robert's hand to keep up with him. It didn't take long before his stomach began to rumble. "And not a restaurant in sight."

Robert squeezed his hand back knowing what he was going through. He was trying to dodge the crowds around him. Motimon was secure in his own bag that he now carried. Penguinmon on the other hand waddled carefully between the two. He was far too big to be in any of their bags and Johnny was nowhere to be found to keep him out of sight.

Yukito turned his head slightly to the side. "Hey guys, first one to see someplace to eat give a shout okay?"

Silence was his only response. Thinking they were ignoring him, Yukito turned around fully; eyes widened holding back a scream as he came face to face with Johnny. No one else was behind him.

"Sure thing, but I'm unsure if the others want something," Johnny answered.

Yukito face palmed and sweat dropped tugging on Robert's hand. "Uh…Robert?"

"Hmm?" Robert turned to face him wandering what was going on. "Yeah?"

"The other guys…" Yukito gulped.

"Yeah?"

"They're gone!"

"WHAT?"

"And you have me instead!"

The two boys whirled around to see the massive crowd of people bustling past them. Johnny was the only one that stood there smiling at them and not one single sign of their friends.

"I can't believe this!" Yukito fumed. "They ditched us!"

"Didn't Yumi say something before going off?" Penguinmon asked.

"Huh? Did she?"

"Don't panic." Robert pulled out his Digivice staring at the screen ready to see multiple coloured dots. "As long as we have this we can always find them." The screen remained blank and lifeless, even their dots weren't on there. "Wha?"

Robert stared in disbelief down at it. "What the? You don't think something happened to it when we entered the real world?"

Yukito just groaned and took a deep calming breath as he closed his eyes. "I thought the Digivices were working before back on the buses? Did we seriously do something for Karma to hate us and everything goes wrong?"

"Let's not panic, we should go and see about locating everyone. Ember is going to find Yumi and Victoria and get us all together in time."

Robert just sighed. "Johnny's right. Come on."

Yumi and Victoria stepped out of the washroom at the far end of the station. Viximon was hanging out of the bag looking around them. The three were expecting to see the group either standing along the side or huddled together in the front of the doors. Sadly what was before them was nothing, blank, zip. No one showed up, did Yukito neglect to mention that they were all suppose to meet up at the washrooms? A look of shock and horror were on their faces as other people milled in front of them.

"Where the hell did the others disappear too?" Yumi seethed.

"They left us? Oh this is lovely," Victoria groaned.

"So what do we do now?" Yumi asked running her hands over her face.

"Well, option one, get on the nearest train and hope that the others are already on it. Option two attempt to go to the city and take a look around hoping they are close. Option three check the Digivice," Victoria rhymed off before a rumbling noise sounded. "Option four…food."

"Option three is out, I'm not getting a signal at all," Yumi groaned.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no! What do you mean we're no getting a signal?" Victoria panicked checking hers as Viximon jumped out of the bag and stood on her shoulder desperately trying to calm her.

"So, regardless, we're stuck?"

"It appears that way. You know what? Let's head up to the city and find a restaurant…or better yet…tea…" beeping started to come from Yumi's Digivice. It was only hers that was going off; sceptically the girl's looked at it unsure. "What the hell?"

"Perhaps we found them?"

"Only coming from mine though?" Yumi scanned the Digivice to see a peach dot. "Oh my Digimon."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Wouldn't it be wise to wait for everyone else?" a new female voice asked.

"Ember? By the gods. I thought everyone left us!"

"Everyone did. If we go now we can meet up…"

"My Digimon is close by. I am not leaving this now!"

"But…"

"Come on!"

The three ran off towards the nearest stairs and made their way toward the second floor and on the way outside.

A dark figure dressed in an oversized black coat with a brown hat; one would consider it to be a creeper outfit or a pedophile. He narrowed his eyes as he stood on the edge of the road, his huge metallic fingers clenching.

They were here somewhere, he was sure of it. Crowds of people pushed past each other, but still, no reaction from the necklace around his neck.

Letting out a huff of annoyance, he slowly turned around to walk back down the street hoping for a better turn out.

Yukito gasped as he skidded to a sudden stop, Robert crashed into him. Johnny winced as Yukito tried so hard to keep balanced. "LOOK!" he shouted indignantly, pointing to the top window of the restaurant building above them. "They're eating without us!"

"You get really moody when you're hungry, aren't you?" Johnny asked raising an eyebrow.

"You would too!" Yukito snapped.

"Whoa, you don't need to bite my head off!"

"Enough you two, let's head over there and deal with it. Yelling won't solve anything," Robert insisted stepping between the two.

"Yes, yes," Yukito said quickly kissing Robert.

The three of them bolted across the crossroads, past the strange (creeper) figure heading past them in the opposite direction.

Yumi, Victoria, and Ember ended up getting out of the subway and back into the fresh air. A sigh of relief filled them once the sun hit them.

"At least we're out of the subway," Victoria sighed. "What does the Digivice say?"

"Apparently he's on the move. The dot is leading this way," Yumi pointed to the left side.

"Well, let's go locate him." Victoria blinked suddenly as she stared at Yumi's Digivice. The Midnight blue dot and purple dot were once more on the screen along with the amber dot and a firebrick dot indicating Ember. "Hey, the Digivices are working finally. Do you suppose it was not working due to being in the subway?"

"How do you explain it going off in the first place?" Ember asked.

"Um…well…that is one good question."

"Whatever, come on, I'm not losing him this time."

The three ran off down the sidewalk, their hope of finding some good news heightened with each step they took. Viximon kept her head poking out of the bag to see what all the excitement was going on. The scenery around her sped by her small secure world. Her heart sped with exhilaration.

Yumi held out her Digivice in front of her, she refused to stop or slow down. Her heart was racing with each step she took. Her breathing was getting heavy and becoming raspy. She never felt this much excitement before in all her life.

"Yumi…think….you could slow down?" gasped Victoria, keeping up as best as she could.

"I would love too but truly, not in the mood to lose him again."

"I thought you would say that."

"You so need to work out more," Ember joked.

"Oh bite me ghost girl."

"Stop bickering back there," Yumi warned. "Hey, it's getting closer."

Unknown to the group was the ever vigilant Digimon that worked for Myotismon. What was worse was the horrifying SkullSatamon whom lurked in the shadows of the buildings close by. A crest hung around his neck. The thing remained lifeless even as children passed by. His red eyes narrowed in anger not being able to find the brat.

Something seemed to catch his attention a moment later by the running girls. Oh this was definitely his day, although not the tenth child, he found two of the Digidestineds, especially the girl with no Digimon. Grinning, he took the opportunity to go after them ready to destroy them.

"Oh, I feel so much better," Tora said contently as she bit down on her cheeseburger. The warm, savoury juices from her burger trickled into her mouth.

"I feel like it has been years since I have had anything so good!" Kisho giggled.

James sighed in relief as she bit down on another fry. "I sure needed this."

Wanyamon grinned greedily as he sank his teeth into a nearby bun. "You people are lucky, you get to eat this every day!" his voice was muffled by the amount of food he had inside.

"I agree with Wanyamon, this is so delicious," Bearmon drooled munching on his own burger.

Pupmon rolled his eyes as he attacked his own food underneath the table with Shaomon. "So immature."

"Says the puppy with the eating issue. Are you actually tasting the food or are you just inhaling it?" Shaomon asked as he ate his own food.

"Can't it be a little bit of both?" Pupmon spoke after swallowing the remains.

"We have pigs for Digimon," groaned James. And can you please keep it down? I don't think the whole store is looking yet."

Kiva smirked as she nibbled on her fry, the music still in her ears. Although she was focusing on the music, the conversation began to travel into her ear.

"That's why you ignore them," Kiva muttered rolling her eyes. Half her food still on her tray while the others had nearly inhaled all theirs. "Go figure where the Digimon get it from."

"HEY!" the group yelped indignantly.

"I'm just saying. You now I'm right though."

"Why is it fait that you all get to eat before us?" Johnny asked suddenly.

Tora's back stiffened at the sound of his voice. Kiva frowned as she looked at her questioningly. Yukito and Robert came strolling over to the small group behind Johnny.

"Eh heh…hey guys," Tora chuckled nervously.

"What happed with you guys? We thought we were supposed to stick together?" Yukito demanded dropping his bag on the ground.

"Well in that case, where are Yumi, Victoria and Ember?" Kiva asked.

"Apparently the washroom. Yukito wasn't paying attention," Penguinmon blurted out.

"You really had to go there didn't you?"

"Well it's the truth."

"Look, right now Ember is with them. I'm sure she going to get them back to us."

"What are you two waiting for? Order something!" James laughed.

Yukito twitched feeling highly annoyed. "How exactly do you want us to do that?" he grumbled. "YOU'VE got all the money."

"Eh heh…" Tora gulped. "You see…we were all so hungry that…-ahem- we ordered the super-duper combos." Yukito glared at them furiously, his fists clenched and shaking.

"See you are moody when hungry."

"I am pretty sure I can find a way to kill you."

Kiva rolled her eyes as she stood up from her spot and went over to the boys, a look in her eyes warning them to knock it all off. Johnny and Yukito whom were right in each others faces stepped back uneasily.

**Kiva: Never put me in the same category as those three****…****ever! Second, I am not stupid. I put money aside for you two and Yumi and Victoria. Do you know where they are?**

"Last we knew they were still in the subway," Yukito replied.

**Kiva: So****…****we have to deal with them till they show up?**

"Seem that way."

"Look at that!" Robert exclaimed, staring down at his flashing Digivice the multicolour's on them as Kiva headed up to the counter with Yukito so he could order something for him and Robert and their Digimon. "NOW the Digivice is responding!"

"So?" Tora asked, sipping her soda.

"Well…" Robert hesitated. "It wasn't working at all when I tried it underground."

"Perhaps it doesn't work underground, only above ground," James replied.

"He has a point," Johnny shrugged.

"Johnny! Hungry?" Yukito called.

"Just give me a cheeseburger and fries!" Johnny yelled back.

Yumi, Victoria, and Ember turned down one of the corners and continued to run for their lives. Part way through their search, Ember was the one to figure out that something was chasing them. Taking the chance to look back she realized that an old foe from the Digital World was after them.

"How did this day for from searching for my Digimon to running for our lives?" Yumi yelped jumping off the side of the building.

"Because somehow or another we are unlucky assholes who have WAY too much responsibilities," Victoria replied.

"I can take him on," Viximon urged.

"No way, he is far too strong and there is no…right!" Ember cried out pulling the girls down another alley and kept urging them forward, too afraid to stop, especially with that crazed maniac after them.

"Breathing is hurting."

"Deal with it…hold on!" Ember grabbed the two in time as a brick wall came into view and turned them intangible. For the first time in a while the girls were able to catch their breaths as Ember fazed them through the wall to the other side.

"Think we have him the slip?" Yumi whispered as soon as they got on the other side and were standing there. She placed two fingers against her neck checking her racing pulse.

"I think so, but to be on the safe side, let's head for a place off the streets till we know for sure," Ember insisted.

"I like her idea. Hey, I'm pretty sure that coffee shop is up here somewhere."

"Oh yeah, that new one. Tea is very worth it."

"Knowing you? Yes."

SkullSatamon narrowed his eyes as he kept up with them during the hunt. He was positive he would have gotten them. That female ghost was definitely a thorn in his side. She had escaped him too many times but he vowed that a third time would not occur. He would have the pleasure in destroying her once and for all.

Her scent still lingered in his nose from the castle even during her first showing up. Oh how he would have loved to make her scream. He held tighter on to the staff at the mere thought. Continuing to chase them the more eager he became.

There was a momentary disappearance of scent and sight of the girls. He was furious, especially when he came to the brick wall. Oh how cheeky they all were, did they believe they could escape him? No brick wall could hold him, or protect his prey.

Narrowing his eyes at the damn, irritable wall, SkullSatamon leapt into the sky and vanished from sight.

Yumi, Victoria and Ember came across a small café with the words "Tim Horton's" on the sign above. (**A/N: I****'****ve always wanted to add this lol).** It was definitely one of the newer franchises to come from overseas. Stepping inside the girls headed towards the counter.

"Do you two know what you want?" Victoria asked.

"Tea, extra large, earl grey, double milk. I need the happy stuff," Yumi rhymed off.

"French Vanilla, large," Ember replied.

Victoria ordered for them and headed for a spot in the back corner away from the window. Yumi was in her own little world as she nursed her tea. Viximon sat on the table sucking back a bottle of water Victoria got her. Ember was the only one to be distracted by the pedestrians outside.

"Ember, what is going on? Who was that?" Victoria asked holding on to her cup of coffee and staring worriedly at the ghost rocker.

"SkullSatamon, he was the one Johnny and I had an encounter with back in Myotismon's castle. We made sure that none of you had the honour of meeting him but that was not the case however. I cannot believe they would bring him here. This is just homicide."

"I hate to ask this…why was he chasing us as if he knew exactly where were we?" Yumi asked sitting the cup down next to her Digivice that went back to lifeless.

"He has my scent. When Johnny and I first went into the castle, we didn't know it at first but apparently he caught on to our scents. Now, regardless he can find us."

"You make him sound like a dog."

"I am not going to even say anything to that."

"So what does that mean for us?"

"If we keep moving we should be fine. I'm sure once we get to Odaiba we'll be home free."

"I really hope you're right."

"Yumi, what's the matter?" the yellow fox asked her when she saw Yumi poke the Digivice with a solemn look on her face.

"We were so close then that asshole had to take us off course."

"Chill. We'll leave in a little bit. Just be grateful that we finally found a place to sit and relax," Ember remarked.

"We should have gotten something to eat," Victoria said.

"There is still that stash in our bag," Yumi replied. Or we should. Viximon did you leave us any?"

"There is still a bag in there. Chill, I'm not that big of a pig."

"We know you're not, we're just teasing you."

"Where do you think the others are?" Victoria asked.

"Probably pigging out right now. I feel sorry for Kiva."

"So what are we going to do now?" Tora asked as the group exited the restaurant.

"Guess we start walking," Kisho replied glumly. "They won't let us back on the train without any money."

Mark sighed as he leaned against the wall. "Like I said before, not looking forward to walking all that way. It's a good way to get us killed."

Suddenly, James snapped his fingers, a cocky smile on his face. "Hah! I know a way that won't cost us a cent!"

Kiva turned to Yukito and Robert with a questioning look before face palming. "This is not going to end well."

"I fear to ask what is going through his head."

"Oh great. You're a genius," Mark replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

James just smirked as Yukito, Robert and Kiva sighed. "This ought to be good."

"HELPPPPP!" James screamed, hopping up and down on the roadside, waving his arms about like an exotic bird about to take flight. "Police! My cat is stuck in a tree in Odaiba and I've got to get there to get her down! Hey!"

"The police?" Mark exclaimed in disbelief as Kiva face palmed letting out a groan as everyone watched from the bushes. "THAT'S his brilliant idea?"

"If the police DO stop, they'll lock him up for disturbing the peace!"

"ACK!" James yelped as a car rushed past him at full-speed, he barely managed to dodge and landed hard on his butt. "HEY! I've got the right of way!"

"Looking good Tai," Mark replied sarcastically.

**Kiva: Good way to make a fool of yourself. Haven****'****t you got any dignity?** She signed although to Yukito and Robert. The three laughed out loud.

Pupmon shook his head; he could not believe he was even associated with most of these humans. He stayed back with Johnny who was leaning against the wall smoking.

"Couldn't you easily fly us home?"

"Not with nice humans and eight Digimon, even with Ember it's impossible. Now the chance of Ember teleporting us COULD be possible but without her around we couldn't attempt it obviously."

"What are the chances of Ember teleporting them home?"

"Could be a possibility, but I highly doubt it. I think she would rather see everyone together."

"At THIS rate we could be hear all day!" Yukito muttered.

"And night!" Robert agreed resting against him.

James whirled around to glare at the others, his face flushed with humiliation. "Then YOU try and get us a ride!"

"Don't look at me I am not making an ass out of myself."

"How about you Mark? You think you're so smart!"

Mark's eyes narrowed as he slowly got to his feet and strolled over to the side of the road. Hesitation was definitely filling him even though he didn't want to show it.

James huffed as he crossed his arms in disgust as he walked back to the group and everyone stared at Mark from behind.

**Kiva: This seriously makes Mark look like he is working the streets.**

Yukito burst out laughing as he imagined Mark on the corned at night in the most outrageous outfit.

"What is he laughing about?" Kisho asked as he took his gaze from his brother.

"Oh sweetie, you do not want to know. You're too innocent to scar that mind of yours," Yukito replied wiping the tears from his eyes.

Mark's shoulders were stiff and his fists clenched. He couldn't do this, he already knew this. Maybe it wasn't right to have said anything to James in the first place. Oh how he wished they didn't fall asleep on the train, they would be home by now. No, if they didn't decide to go to Highton View Terrace all this would have been avoided.

"Well?" James spat as nothing happened for some time.

Silence filled the area; Mark refused to give in as a blush crept up his face.

"WELL?"

If like on cue, a gorgeous fire red convertible pulled up with a curly blonde hair young woman in the driver's side. She leaned against the door looking at Mark as she lowered her shades.

"Hey cutie, are you looking for a good time?"

Oh that was it, Kiva, Robert, Johnny and Yukito were on the ground laughing their asses off. He would never live this down for the rest of his life. Yukito was snorting with laughter after a bit making the other three to laugh harder.

Mark blushed harder by the comment. Did she truly think he was a hooker? Oh his life was over. He wanted to curl up into a ball and just die.

The woman grinned at him as she sped off. Oh the poor boy was shy.

Mark slowly lowered his head, his face bright, bright red in embarrassment and walked back to the others. He just lost all his dignity.

"Not so easy, is it?"

"Hooker," coughed Johnny.

Mark gritted his teeth as he glared at James. "WELL AT LEAST MY CAT'S NOT STUCK IN A TREE!"

James just smirked as the rest of the group roared with laughter.

"Oh my ribs, I can't breathe," gasped Yukito.

"All right you two, your turn! Get out there!" James insisted after Yukito was able to calm down a bit.

"Hey I am not making an ass out of myself, you guys go ahead."

"You don't get the option of this. Johnny you too."

"No way, I can easily leave you guys and ride back home."

"That's right, you have your bike!"

"Too many trips my petit friend."

"You've got to be kidding me," Robert groaned as he pulled Yukito with him to the curb.

"I'm not kidding, just do it!"

The two of them looked at each other sighing in embarrassment. Collecting whatever dignity they had left, both imitated James and hopped up and down wildly like they had poison ivy in their underwear.

"Yo! Taxi! Over here! Please!" the two shouted over and over again.

"I seriously thought James was bad," Kiva and Pupmon snorted with laughter.

"I can't wait to see you out there."

"Oh good luck on that one."

It didn't take long before a yellow car with black stripes pulled up and a grizzled face poked out of the window and barked, "You pups need a ride?"

"Yeah!"

"You got any cash?"

"…No?"

The taxi sped off leaving Yukito and Robert in the dust causing them to cough up dirt while the rest howled with laugher.

While the others were having a grand old time trying to find a way home, Yumi, Victoria and Ember were back on the streets with another round of drinks in their hands. Yumi refused to leave the café without another tea. They were positive this time that SkullSatamon was no longer on their trail.

It was becoming harder and harder to walk through the streets as the dinner rushed kicked in. More children ran past them, laughter escaped their mouths as their carefree lifestyles kicked in. Even though the Digivice was once more back to life, it wasn't reacting to the children.

"Ugh…too many people, I'm ready to kill them," groaned Yumi.

"Hopefully we can be free of all this when we get home."

"Oh joy, just what I want," Yumi groaned.

"I will talk to mom and see about you staying over."

"You are bloody awesome."

A rapid beeping sounded from Yumi's pocket startling them all. "Do you have that set to heart attack mode?"

"You know if I did. Right now, we found the mysterious peach."

"Lead the way, it's your Digimon."

Yumi grasped the Digivice tightly in one hand and held the tea securely in the other as she took off down the street with Victoria and Ember right behind her. There was definitely a good sign with seeing as they were in the real world; her Digimon wouldn't disappear too easily.

"We are finally going to meet my Digimon!" Yumi squealed as soon as they broke free from the crowds.

"A little louder there girl, people won't start questioning your sanity otherwise."

"Oh hush. People are too ignorant to care."

"What is it saying?" Ember asked crowding around Yumi after she stopped to take a sip of her tea.

"Tea time," was her only response. Her eyes gazed down to see the four coloured dots grouped together and a peach dot around a kilometre a head of them. Making sure no one was around; Yumi activated the hologram map hoping that it would work in the real world. Only their small location showed up, which was fine with Yumi that was all she needed. She could see that the peach dot was in a park or something. Taking that as a sign, she got rid of the map and looked at the others. "He appears to be near the park, it's not that far."

"Excellent, what are we waiting for?"

"Did you manage to see the others?"

"It didn't go that far, we must be that far away, I'll have to ask Robert to do another update."

Taking the lead again, Yumi ran in front of the girls praying to be able to come across her Digimon. This was becoming ridiculous.

After taking three turns, thankfully on the same side, the small group of females made their way toward the open brick area close to the park. A small festival seemed to have erupted all of a sudden. A gathering of children were surrounding someone holding balloons. When the three let their eyes follow toward the group, they saw the person raise his arms into the air and confetti exploded into the air.

"When did the carnival come in?"

"Who knows, good thing we didn't miss it."

Something caught Ember's attention about the figure in the center of the children. He was wearing a tattered blue hat, a skull on the front and a matching cowl. No…it couldn't be? Could it? Ember thought with a gasp.

"Okay, peach dot is somewhere in that direction," Yumi said pointing her Digivice in the location of the children.

"Hopefully after all this, we don't have to go on a wild goose chase any more."

"Is it truly that big of a problem?" Yumi asked.

"Well…it's not that, it's just I don't wish for you to get your hopes up and have them shattered."

"I appreciate it Victoria, really I do, but I would rather know for sure."

Turning their attention back to the location of the children, the group seemed to have disappeared as well as the figure.

"Damn it, on with the search again. Come on baby, don't let me down."

Scanning the Digivice again, the peach dot was on the move once more heading toward the busy streets. Shrugging, the girls continued their way after the group. It was just time till Yumi came face to face with her partner.

An hour passed, the sun was getting dull as the late afternoon kicked in. The streets were getting less busy as the group missed the rush hour. Instead of moving to a new location or attempting their own way home, they still stayed behind the bush. Robert was curled up into Yukito, his eyes dazed; Motimon and Penguinmon were also curled into each other next to them.

Kiva, for the sake of sanity and wanting to be left along had her iPod on once more. Pupmon curled up on her lap letting his body relax into sleep. Kisho was resting against her shoulder subconsciously petting Shaomon. He was no longer part of the living world. Johnny was next to them, one leg stretched out and the other bent to rest his arm on his kneecap.

The others were all sitting around them, exhaustion getting to them. They needed to get home and soon.

"I think it's our turn!" Tora suddenly said with a grin as she got to get feet. "Kiva?"

Johnny shook her shoulder knowing the girl was lost in her own world as she let the music blast into her ear. The shaking caused her to snap her eyes open and took out one of the buds.

"You coming?" Tora asked.

"Hell no. No was in hell. I refuse to make an ass out of myself. You can go right away."

"Oh come on, I'm not doing this by myself. Please?!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Tora grabbed her arm, instantly realizing the danger she was putting herself into and pulled her up. Pupmon leapt off her lap taking the iPod into his mouth. Kiva, in instinct, grabbed Yukito's hand and pulled him. He gave her a look not knowing what she was planning. Her eyes widened in a plea as she pulled again. Yukito groaned as he shifted Robert off him as he followed them to the curb.

Neither one of them could believe their eyes when a black van came driving up to them and stopped next to the two girls, as a pale, tattooed, teenager poked his head out the window. He had his hair spiked up in a black short faux hawk with red, blue and purple colours through the pieces. In his left ear was a full ear piercing, on the other side had an industrial piecing with double arrows. There was also a dragon ear cuff on the same side. He also had his eyebrows pierced, nose pierced and shark bites. He had black eyeliner on bringing out the blue irises. "Yukito?"

His gaze met his first before he saw Kiva standing there. She was looking everywhere but the car, she could careless about standing there like an ass. There say an older Goth boy in a black t-shirt with his favourite band on the front, a long sleeved shirt underneath. Around his neck was a double spiked collar.

"Dragomir?" Yukito gasped as Kiva gaped not believing her eyes. The two turned to face the rest of the group who were staring at them questioningly. "It's Yumi's cousin!"

"You look like you could use a lift."

"You have no idea."

"Where are Yumi and Victoria?"

"We don't know, we go separated back in the subway," answered Yukito.

"Come on, hop in I can give you a lift."

"You are a life saver."

Kisho blinked at the Gothic boy. "Yumi's cousin?"

"What are the chances of that happening?" James asked in disbelief.

"One in four point two million!"

"Whatever!" Motimon chirped up. "I'm just glad we have a ride!"

Everyone piled into the van, Kiva getting the front seat before anyone else could claim it. Between her and Yukito, the two knew Dragomir since they were young. Yukito was obviously younger than Kiva when he met him but there was family history with Kiva and Yumi.

"Where are you guys heading?" Dragomir asked driving away.

"Odaiba, we need to get home," Yukito replied leaning forward.

"Perfect, heading that way myself."

"How lucky are we?" Yukito chuckled lowly sitting back.

"Sit back and get comfortable. However, listen up, anyone disses the radio, says anything wrong will be kicked out. Clear?"

"Crystal."

"Hey Dragos, where are you living now, seeing as we haven't seen you in years."

"I'm currently moving out to Odaiba. Need a new location."

"Landlord kick you out?"

"They cannot prove anything. I'm Goth, not Satanic."

Kiva smirked as she scratched Pupmon's head. Before the triplet's moved, Dragomir had been to different apartments but only for a short time due to problems. Dragomir was nineteen years old, only seven year difference between him and Yumi. He had been on his own since fourteen when his parents moved to James at a young age.

The girls were able to catch up to the group of children and the mysterious being. He was carrying coloured balloons which seemed to entertain the eager little ones. Yumi raised an eyebrow at the simple minded children. Why would anyone be interested in those things?

"What would the chance be that the mysterious being is your Digimon?" asked Victoria.

"It could be. The beeping does get louder when the device is pointed at him."

"Why don't we get close and you know…talk to him?"

"Yeah, why not."

"Well, well, well, did you think you could escape me?" a drawl voice spoke behind them.

Ember, Victoria and Yumi felt a shudder go down their spines at the sound of his voice. They were definitely goners now. Turning around slowly, their eyes widened at the sight of SkullSatamon. A terrified gasp left their mouths at their took off down the street. They hated the fact that their only instinct was to run.

"You have to let me fight!" Viximon fought struggling in the bag.

"No! It's still too risky."

He was still gaining on them, no sign of slowing down. All the pedestrians didn't seem to be phased by the chase. What was wrong with people? He wasn't exactly disguising himself; he was a straight out skeleton. To an extent it could look like a horror movie set up. He did portray one pretty well.

Up ahead, the girls came to an open area that was clear of pedestrians. Ember took the opportunity to turn around and aimed her guitar at SkullSatamon and strummed a cord sending out a blast of skull beams, striking him directly in the chest. It forced him to stumble backwards, anger filling him at the hit.

During that time, Viximon jumped out of the bag and Digivolved into Renamon. She stood next to Ember glaring at SkullSatamon. A growl left her throat as a light shone from Victoria's Digivice.

"This fight is about to get so much better," Renamon grinned. "Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon."

"Ooh, I'm so scared."

"You should!" Kyubimon growled. "Dragon wheel."

Kiva was subconsciously bobbing her head to the music blaring from the CD player. It was one of the earlier albums from Slipknot. Yukito seemed to be in his own world letting the beat fill his ear.

"Does the entire family have an obsession over this style of music?" asked Robert.

"It's a thing," Yukito replied. "Welcome to the world of heavy metal."

Beneath the bridge the van was currently passing, no one noticed a medium-sized river boat drifting across the waters.

"How did I ever get into this?" Demidevimon moaned as he perched on the helm. "Knocking myself out looking for some pipsqueak kid. I've got half a mind just to chuck this whole lousy job!" he hesitated before sighing. "But…the master might not like that."

As the boat continued on its journey, Demidevimon was oblivious to a figure standing in the shadows of the riverbank, a cloak wrapped around him. Its red eyes narrowed with contempt as he watched him, before looking around and walking away.

Pupmon buried his head into Kiva's lap as the loud metal rock music blared even more. He was really close to the speakers and his ears couldn't handle it.

'_So this is Slipknot?__'_

'_Yep.__'_

'_It__'__s hurting my ears.__'_

The others didn't seem to be enjoying the loud music either, well except for Yukito, but his Digimon was thinking otherwise.

'_Oh this is going to be fun,__'_ sighed Kiva. She looked up at the sun visor and got an idea. Flipping it down and opening the mirror compact, she looked through it and tried to get Yukito's attention.

It took Yukito a moment to realize that Kiva was trying to get a hold of him. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her hand singles.

**Kiva: Can you ask Dragos to turn it down? I****'****m being respectful here.**

**Yukito: Of course****…****I don****'****t think our Digimon can handle the bass like we can.**

"Hey Dragos!" Yukito called. No answer. "Dragos!"

"Hmm? What's wrong Yukito?" Dragomir asked looking through the rearview mirror.

"The music is kind of loud!"

"I'm sorry?"

"The concert beat is bothering the non heavy metal members."

Dragomir grinned turning the CD off and turning the volume down. "Now for a news update. Officials have yet to find a clear explanation for the devastating explosion that rocked the Highton View Terrace apartments in the Nerima district earlier today."

"Huh?"

"Power in the area is still out and the injured are still being counted after the bizarre incident. While official sources have offered no further information, there are reports of several eyewitness accounts. However, these accounts have only served to further mystify investigators. The details of their accounts differ, but several of these eyewitnesses agree that an elephant and something described as a giant fox in Taoism robes were seen in the vicinity."

Kiva blinked at the announcement as she looked at the others through the mirror.

"When asked about the accounts, officials would give no comment. A similar incident took place at the Highton View Terrace apartments four years ago. It's unknown whether there is any connection between the two."

Outside the car, there was a blue of yellow fur and something riding on what looked like a…guitar? Behind them was a blue of red chasing after the them.

Johnny, who was outside beside the van on his motorcycle gaped at what just passed them.

"Ember?"

Kiva's eyes widened when she saw what it was. Turning her head to the side she could see Johnny pointing and telling them they needed to stop. Kiva turned to face Dragomir and patted his arm trying to get his attention.

At first he didn't respond and kept going, almost passing the bridge.

"Dragomir, you have to stop! Yumi just passed us!" Kiva called out with the help of Pupmon.

The Digidestineds and Digimon in the back all sweat dropped at the outburst. Oh this was going to be fun to try and explain that one.

That definitely got Dragomir's attention. He knew since meeting the girl she was deaf. For her to talk was not something he was use to. He slammed on the brakes making the van skid.

"Did…did you just talk?"

"There'll be a time to explain later. You just have to trust me on this," Kiva replied forgoing any cover ups.

Dragomir nodded as the Digidestined piled out of the van and looked around with Johnny next to them.

"Where did they go?" Robert asked.

"I saw them go that way!" Johnny pointed the opposite way they came.

"We have to go after them."

"Is it wise?"

"Right now, we have no other option in the matter. They need our help," Yukito urged.

"What about Dragos?"

"He'll be fine. Now come on."

"Pupmon digivolve to…Puppymon!"

"Shaomon digivolve to…Labramon!"

The digidestineds took off down the road heading toward where the blurs went to. This was not going to go well if they arrived late.

Yumi and Victoria held on to dear life to Kyubimon as she ran down the street trying to get away from SkullSatamon. Every so often his nail bone attack narrowly missed them. Ember used her fire hair to attack back. He truly was a force to be reckoned with; the attack didn't seem to faze him.

"Ember, we have to get the kids to safety, they can't heal like we can," Kyubimon snarled dodging the attacks.

"We are not leaving you!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Kyubimon has a point. It is too risky to keep you in this fight. You have too much to lose if you were to die."

"When did you go to her side?"

"When I had to come face to face with SkullSatamon."

"Nail bone!"

"Guys, look out!" shouted a new voice.

"Puppymon digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

"Labramon digivolve to…Dobermon!"

"Gaomon digivolve to Gaogamon!"

"Wolf howl!"

"Schwartz Strahl!"

"Gaoga tornado!"

All three attacks formed together striking SkullSatamon in the back. The attack was affective but not enough to destroy him. A dark chuckle escaped his throat as he turned to face the other Digidestineds.

"So you truly think all your pathetic attacks can truly defeat me? You are sadly mistaken. The master will be happy when I finally finish off you brats."

"Like that's going to happen."

Dobermon, Gaogamon, Wolfmon and Kyubimon stood before SkullSatamon growling furiously at him. All at once they sent out their attacks directly at his chest. With ease the skeleton Digimon blocked it but still stumbled back a bit from the force.

The group all watched tensely as blood from the four wolf Digimon's wounds stained the ground red, not even noticing the crowd around them. SkullSatamon was refusing to back down.

"Holy cow! What's going on?"

"They must be advertising something!"

"Advertising something? Get out of here!"

"Guys, we have to get out of here, we can't defeat him!" shouted Robert.

"Oh you are quite right little one. You will be the first to die!"

Yukito's eyes widened when he saw SkullSatamon aim his staff at Robert and sent an attack at him.

"NO!"

"ROBERT!" Yukito shouted just as he scrambled to grab him. He missed his shirt by mere inches and only grabbed air.

"AHHHHH!"

Motimon's eyes widened in horror. "I'm coming Robert! Motimon digivolve to…Tentomon!"

He swooped down and seized Robert by the sneaker. "I've got you!"

Robert gasped trying to calm his poor racing heart. "Thanks, Tento!"

"Robert, are you okay?" Yukito called.

The bug-Digimon sank slightly in mid-flight. "You had to have that extra order of poutine didn't you?"

All the while Tentomon was doing his rescue mission, the fight continued between the wolves and SkullSatamon. More and more spectators started to gather around looking interested at the fight.

"Do you think they're shooting a movie?"

"…I don't see any cameras…"

"Oh well. Maybe they're just rehearsing."

"What have those kids got themselves into?" Dragomir wondered staring in awe at the large Digimon.

The wolf Digimon snarled again before sending another blast right at SkullSatamon's body. There was a large explosion from that as smoke filled the air, which was the last thing any of the spectators saw of the monsters. To the Digidestineds it looked like they destroyed SkullSatamon but in reality he too his leave for the time being.

"What?" the first man exclaimed, coughing. "They're gone! They…they disappeared!"

Dragomir who was closer to the action than the others took of to locate the others. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do.

In a secluded spot away from the onlookers the Digidestineds let out a sigh of relief as they all hugged their Digimon in congratulations.

"That was intense, I'm just glad everyone is all right."

"Yumi, what's wrong, you don't look happy," Kisho said.

"I was so close to seeing my Digimon and it all got taken away from me."

"He will show up in due time."

"Yo, squirts, there you are," Dragomir called down.

Yumi looked up, her eyes wide. "Dragos, how did you know where we were?"

"Followed you guys. I wanted to make sure that you were all right," Dragomir admitted. "I think, however, there is going to be a big explanation to be given."

Yumi looked at the others, with a look in her eyes, who face palmed and pointed to Kiva. "Oh well, one can't keep a low profile for long. If you could give us a lift back to Odaiba, I will TRY to give you as much of a run down as I possibly can," Yumi said.

James leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "Is that a wise idea?"

"He's my cousin and we don't keep secrets."

Demidevimon smirked, perched on top of one of the piers as he watched the Digidestined make their way to the waiting vehicle. "Here's the good news, now that they're here, we can finally take care of them!"

To his right, unknown to him, was the same figure from before, standing in the shadows of the piers, he chuckled lowly as he eyed the Digidestined, his red eyes glowing. Oh this was going just as he planned.

**A/N: Holy ass long chapter, written there were roughly 39 pages, typed came to 22. This truly was the longest chapter by far I****'****ve written. Uncertain if I could ever beat the tournament chapter. So, here is the thing in this chapter; Yumi gets close to her Digimon, by no means does she see his face. Victoria doesn****'****t see him either, Ember is the only one who sees the pieces of clothes and staff, that is it. I also had to bring in SkullSatamon. That is going to bring in the chaos later on. Also the mystery person is just beginning; you will see more of him later. Oh and with the baby, I wanted to name her, and Moxie is the name of my friend first born girl.**

**Yumi: You by far are a cruel, evil hearted woman. Why can****'****t you have more sympathy for me?**

**Me: What kind of story has it where the character gets reunited with her lost partner or what have you right away?**

**Yumi: Cruel.**

**Victoria: Well at least you can be closer to him. You****'****ll know where he is.**

**Yumi: Yeah yeah**

**Youngblood: When does everyone get to see this handsome face?**

**Yumi, Victoria, Kiva, Yukito, Ember and Johnny: QUIT IT!**


	46. Bitter home reunions

**A/N: You guys are just fabulous, do you all know that? Fabulous. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter, Night****'****s Oath and We are made from Broken Parts for your wicked reviews. Seriously, it makes the story that much better. Thank you also to San Child of the Wolves, White Hunter and Night****'****s Oath for your help on the Prophecy. I****'****m using all your ideas for this. You just have to be patient. Oh and as for Dragomir, yes there will be more on him in time. Enjoy the next chapter ^_^. Oh and a heads up as well. I am going to be working on two projects, this and my cosplay for next month. I****'****m going as Wizardmon and I am slowly starting to get things stitched up.**

**Chapter 46**

**Bitter home reunions**

**Aug 1at (8:30pm)**

True to his word, Dragomir took all the kids to their respectable homes, while Yumi filled him in on all their adventures; who their Digimon were, how Kiva and Puppymon were able to communicate via telepathy and Puppymon speaking for her. She also filled him in that there was an evil Digimon by the name of Myotismon who brought all these Digimon to the real world and his goal was to find the tenth child and kill him. Their goal as Digidestineds was to stop him and destroy while protecting said tenth child.

Dragomir sat idly in his seat at a red light with only Yumi, Victoria, Yukito and Robert to take home. Tora, Kisho, Mark and James were the first four to be dropped off. Kiva had been recently dropped off. All the while Yumi told her story, Dragomir kept quiet the entire time, taking everything in. Since the two were children they would never laugh or tell the person they were insane. With their own strange abilities they came into terms with information easier.

"You guys sure have had one intense adventure. I take it aunt Hitomi has no idea about all this?" Dragomir asked pulling in front of the doors to Robert's apartment.

"I haven't talked to her yet. I'm in no mood to deal with her or her asshole boyfriend," Yumi groaned waving to Robert as he left.

"Why don't you go live with Uncle Alex?"

"I don't wish to leave my friends. Sadly, you have no idea how many times I've prayed to be with him. No beatings, no rape, no attacks, shouting or any other shit."

"I'm going to tell you this right here and now. You have three people in this car that would be more then willing to take you in. What those two are doing is wrong, you know this and I know this. You are strong Yumi; I don't want to see you broken or dead after all this."

"I give you my word that won't happen. And I am eternally grateful for all that. I swear it's like you're my guardian angel."

"Only better."

"Yes, that is true, only better. Look, if anything was to happen, I'll call I promise."

After two more stops, Dragomir finally pulled up to Yumi's apartment, an uneasy feeling over coming her as she stared up at the big building.

"Don't let them get under your skin. If they do, get a hold of me. And for the love of the gods, no more scare attacks," Dragomir said giving Yumi a hug.

"I won't, I won't."

"Good girl, have a good night."

Yumi nodded her head as she left the car and moved to the building. Her heart clenched at having to deal with the fights with her mother and step-father. Inwardly she laughed, while the others were looking forward to going home, she desperately wanted to stay. Leaving behind her troubles of the abuse, arguments and problems.

Strolling into the building, the familiar lobby greeted her, it seemed so long ago that she seen the place. She had called this place home for the last three years. Nothing good ever came from this place. She didn't feel protected and she never felt safe. Half the people on their floor were never home and anyone below them were out all night.

Dragging her feet to the elevator, Yumi let out a sigh as she leaned against the wall waiting for the number to reach twenty-five. She could already hear the bitching and complaining from the two of them. Oh how she would love, just one day to come home to silence. That would never happen, not unless she took it into her own hands and permanently left.

-Ding-

The elevator doors opened wide revealing her floor. A soft groan left her as she trudged down the long hall to the very end. Sure she could turn back and run, free herself now or face the problem head on. It was only a mere eight years of suffering at the hands of the woman she scornfully called mother. What kind of sick mother would allow this to happen? Her boyfriend was no better.

The door loomed closer and closer with each step she took until she stood before it. A sign escaped her as she hung her head. She basically had to swallow her pride and simply face the music.

'_Daddy, wish you were here__…__you would actually keep me from lashing out.__'_

Turning the knob to the apartment, she stepped foot inside all the while keeping her breathing calm and the rest of her relaxed and in normal mode.

"I'm home!" she called kicking off her shoes and placing them to the side. Her aching feet screaming at her from all that walking.

Hitomi, who was currently in the kitchen, raised an eyebrow as she was in the midst of cooking dinner. Hearing her daughter's voice, she poked her head around the wall to see Yumi strolling toward her pulling her suitcase. (There was a lot of double backing for belongings that seemed to have gotten missed placed along the way).

"What in the world? Yumi why aren't you at camp? Did you actually think you could run away from camp and…?"

"Chill mother, I didn't run away. Camp got cancelled due to a freak snowstorm and literally a freak snow storm," Yumi replied casually shrugging as she continued down the hall toward her room."

"Hold it young lady," Hitomi called.

Yumi rolled her eyes as she lazily turned her head back to her mother.

"Do you honestly think I am going to believe that there was a snowstorm?"

"A, check the news once in a while. B, call my teacher, he'll tell you that they shut everything down," Yumi replied in a snappish tone.

"You don't need to give me attitude young lady."

Yumi mimicked her mother once she was turned away from her and continued her way to her room.

"Give me your dirty clothes and I'll wash them."

"I'm not that far gone. I can do my own laundry."

"Fine. Whatever. You better change that attitude too."

"Or what? You'll have Takashi deal with me?" With that Yumi slammed the door to her bedroom.

Once inside she stared around at the unfortunately familiar room that held her creative and unique side. She dropped her bags unceremoniously on the ground as her feet unwillingly took her further into her bedroom. It felt like years since she had been in there. Her walls were painted a crimson red, a black shelf holding an array fairies rested on top with a variety of candles. On another shelving unit was a large collection of porcelain dolls her aunts and father have sent her over the years. While people say they were creepy looking, she loved them.

A double size bed with silk red sheets sat at the corner by the window next to a short two drawer black dresser. On the opposite side of the room was a large book shelf filled with novels written by Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R Tolkien, Edgar Allen Poe just to name a few, among a variety of others some filled with poems, horror, thrillers and fantasy.

In the middle between the books was a medium size flat screen with DVDS on the top shelf. She had all the movies Johnny Depp had ever stared in, anything done by Tim Burton, all of the horror movies that peaked her interest. In another area were a large stack of CDS; all the albums from Korn, Slipknot, Disturbed, Godsmack, Exist+trace, Metallica, Nightwish, and a few others.

"I thought I would never see this place again," she thought bitterly, sitting down on the double bed. She sank into the sheets somewhat as the mattress shifted. It felt weird to feel the silkiness again and be around her belongings.

Out in the halls she could hear the sounds of her mother talking to Takashi. No doubt the conversation was all about her. It usually was.

"Why in the name of Hecate was I brought back into this household again? I should have stayed in the Digital World. Or better yet, go to live with father, far away from this retched place," Yumi seethed.

Taking out her Digivice, she clenched it into her fist in anger. "Everything in my life goes wrong, why couldn't this, of al things have gone right? The others all received a Digimon, why not me? What have I done to not be blessed with one?"

All the anger that she built up over time seemed to take over her, her eyes began to turn a gold colour as electric blue lines, spirals and a crescent moon appeared along her face. She desperately tried to keep her cool. She never allowed the tears to fall before. Why start now?

Kiva and Puppymon were the next ones to be dropped off after Tora and the three boys were taken home. Respectfully Dragomir took them all straight to their homes and pulled up to the front door. He truly was a gentleman when it came to Yumi's friends. Kiva had mixed feelings about being back at the apartment. She wanted so much to be with her mother so she could look after her but as well, she didn't want to be there anymore.

Opening her bag she motioned for Pupmon to jump inside. "I would allow you to stroll in, unfortunately mom isn't big on pets being in the apartment and would probably kick you out."

'_Thanks for the heads up; I just hope she__'__s not as bad as you say she is.__'_

'_All I can say is, anything happens, stay in my room.__'_

Pupmon didn't say any more, he knew that Kiva had her problems with her mom and needed to find a way to deal with them. Resting comfortably on the piles of clothes, Pupmon laid there feeling the usual movements of walking. He found it strange to be separated from the group after so long of being together.

The only good thing about their predicament was that they all had a ride and weren't walking the streets and truly on their own waiting for an ambush to occur.

Kiva made her way through the small hallway towards the stairs. She lived in a three storey apartment; her place was on the second floor. It wasn't bad of a place, very quaint. She had been there for four years even after her father was killed, her mother refused to move. She wanted to stay where she felt at home.

The flights of stairs seemed so long after not taking them everyday. Everything seemed so strange to her like she was a foreigner in a new country. Shrugging it off she went down the long hallway to the middle and opened the door. Inside was quiet, no TV, no radio. That wasn't like her mom. Although it could prove to be a bad thing as well. No matter, it gave her time to drop her belongings off in her room and make sure Pupmon was comfortable.

The inside of the apartment was at a medium size, for a mother and daughter that was all they needed. The kitchen was a good size with a small dining room and a good size living room with a TV and a bookshelf filled with a variety of books that belonged to both Kiva and her father, and photo albums. The walls were earth tones giving it a mix of feelings.

Kiva proceeded to her bedroom at the far end of the hall. No sign of her mother on the way down, somehow that wasn't bothering her in the slightest.

Once safely in her room, Kiva gently placed her bag on the bed and allowed Pupmon out. After shaking his head and jumping on to her bed, Pupmon looked around at his partner's bedroom. The bed itself was right next to the window, giving her a good wake up call in the daytime; she had dark grey curtains that were held back by a lavender ribbon. Her sheets were a dark purple and black with small lavender lines here and there on the comforter. Above her bed were a few of her father's swords and several of her own wooden kendo sticks hanging up on the wall by lavender and silver hooks.

The walls were painted a dark purple, all her furniture was black, giving it a good contrast. He noticed that the room overall was bare save for the furniture, which was a four drawer dresser and mirror on the one side of her room a two drawer bedside table next to her bed. In the corner of the room was a desk, which held her black laptop with a blood red rose on the center. Her closet door on the far side was painted black with a silver doorknob. It was just a simple small closet, enough to hold her clothes. Hanging from her ceiling was a rose wood fan.

On a shelf by the desk were a few photos of her dad, Adrian, pictures of him alone or pictures of the two of them together. Pupmon was now staring at the younger Kiva and her father. He was also staring intently at a golden flip frame that sat on her desk; it held a picture of Kiva and her mom.

Kiva noticed Pupmon staring at it for some time. The photo had been taken three months before her father's death and before her mom got worse. It was the only time that her and her mom seemed to get along. Smiling a little she flipped the picture over to reveal her and her dad sitting on a rock surrounded by green grass. She was in front of him and he had his arms wrapped around her.

"Nice colour choices," Pupmon remarked curling up on her bed.

'_I really like the colours. Yes it takes away from the Goth feel but the colours are still good.__'_

"Kiva? Are you home?" a woman's voice called.

'_Stay put, I don__'__t care what is going on I want you to stay here,__'_ Kiva informed him.

'_Understood.__'_

Kiva left her room, shutting the door quietly and made her way to the living room where her mom was sitting on the couch, a book resting on the arm while her crazed brown eyes gazed over the words. Her dirty blond shoulder length hair was clipped back by a golden butterfly clip. In the faint light, her skin seemed to be an unnatural pale skin. She wore a simple blue top with a black crotched sweater over top. Her bottoms were simple grey sweatpants. At the moment Ai seemed to be normal today. At least that was what Kiva could make herself believe. In her free hand she held a cigarette that was already half the size.

Knowing that she wasn't paying attention to her at the moment, and not wanting to get closer to the woman, Kiva took the other option by knocking on the wall to get her mom's attention.

"You have a voice, use it," came her mom's usual retort.

Kiva rolled her eyes when she wouldn't look up. For years Ai told her the same thing over and over again. She had a voice, she could use it. Her mother could not accept the fact that she couldn't…or wouldn't speak.

Once again Kiva knocked on the wall and waited patiently for her mom to look up again.

**Kiva: You wanted something mom?**

Ai sighed as she placed the book down and let out a puff of smoke. "Oh more of those ridiculous hand signals. Your father spoiled you by allowing you to communicate like that. If it was up to me you would be speaking, I don't care what it would take."

'_Yeah, you would have me black and blue, cut up or dead.__'_

"Aren't you supposed to be at camp or something?"

**Kiva: We got to go home early, it snowed.**

"Oh what a pathetic excuse, I highly doubt there was snow."

**Kiva: That****'****s just your opinion. Do we have any food?**

"There might be something, if you're lucky."

Kiva turned around rolling her eyes as she headed to the kitchen and started to gather a plate of food for her and Pupmon. The stench of smoke filled the air from her mother's blasted cigarettes. She gagged at the smell of them. It was a filthy habit that should never have been introduced to her. They were on welfare it happened after Adrian died. Things took a turn for the worst. Obviously, due to Ai's mental stability she couldn't get a job. As well, when Ai was desperate for money when low, she would contact Adrian's side of the family to get money to help pay bills or food. Or that was the bull story she told. They had some money left over but it wasn't enough, and whatever money Kiva could get her hands on for food seeing as Ai would spend the rest of cigarettes. Oh how Kiva was happy that she wasn't addicted to drug.

Getting what she could, she quickly headed back to her bedroom and closed the door once more. Pupmon seemed to be transfixed on Kiva's large CD collection; they were all heavy metal bands dating back to the '80s to now. She had collected all of them over the years. Most of them were prior Adrian's death; others were more recent. Even though they were on welfare, Kiva's aunts and uncles willingly gave Kiva money, almost like an allowance to spend on whatever she wanted, let it be food, clothes, or whatever else her heart desired. Some of them also helped pay for her kendo lessons. Unbeknownst to her mom, her one aunt set up a back account for Kiva as well that only Kiva could access.

'_I brought some food.__'_

'_Thank you. You sure do like your variety of music don__'__t you?__'_

'_They seem to help me.__'_

'_I can see why. I__'__ve got to ask, what is that smell? It__'__s disgusting.__'_

'_Unfortunately, my mother is a smoker; they are intoxicating sticks that can kill you.__'_

'_Doesn__'__t she have any respect for her health or yours?__'_

'_Nope. After my father died she started this unhealthy trend. Oh sure, I could get her to stop, that is if I still wanted my body in tact.__'_

'_I worry about what you mean.__'_

'_Please don__'__t fret my friend. For now, just eat. Get your strength.__'_

Yukito was the next in line to get dropped off; he had heard all of Yumi's problems. Oh how he wished he could all her to stay over so he could take her away from all the hell. That is if his own household wasn't filled with hell and problems as well.

Opening the door slightly, Yukito waved to Dragomir, Victoria and a very depressed Yumi. His heart went out to her and wished her all the best. He wasn't stupid; being friends with her for ten years of their lives he knew all the deep dark secrets.

"Do you think Yumi will be okay?" Penguinmon asked looking up concerned at his partner.

"Time will only tell. I hope so, for her sake."

After moving in swiftly to the twenty storey floor apartment, Yukito and Penguinmon made their way to the nearest elevator, praying for a quiet entrance. There were a few times Yukito had to pick up Penguinmon and make it look like he was a stuff animal. A few of the people gave him a look as to what he was carrying.

"How rude. People have no respect for people's personal things," Penguinmon chirped indignantly as Yukito placed him on the ground again once inside the elevator.

"Sadly, that's the people in the city for you. It's hysterical hearing Yumi and Victoria spazz on people for staring at them."

"Do they truly do that?"

"Oh you have no idea what those two are capable of when aggravated."

"Remind me to never get on their bad side."

"That is a really good idea. All right, you just have to be quiet just a little longer. I don't trust this hallway for what could come of it.

"All right." -Ding-

The doors opened wide revealing Yukito's floor on the fifteenth level. For the time being all was quiet, but for how long? Strolling down the long hallway, Yukito got to the third door from the last and pulled it open. He was half expecting to hear his father on the other side raging in his usual drunken slur. He also half expected to be surrounded by many neighbours.

"Aren't you going in?" Penguinmon asked nudging him slightly.

"Hmm? Oh…yeah, yeah," Yukito snapped out of his trance and moved in fully to the apartment and closed the door. "Dad? Are you home?"

No sound traveled through the apartment. Although it was only eight thirty, there could be a chance his father was asleep. _'__Hah__…__that would be a laugh,__'_ Yukito thought bitterly moving through the apartment more allowing Penguinmon to walk. The kitchen was to the left side, all the appliances were somewhat new, they were stainless steel and the floors were hardwood. The counters were marble giving the kitchen a nice touch. The kitchen itself was a fair size, enough to move around.

What caught Yukito's eyes right away was the pile of dishes of three days gone by. His father never cared for keeping the place clean, especially when he has been drinking. Yukito was the clean freak in the house, unlike his father. He said that it was due to his sexuality that was a clean freak.

Yukito, time and time again tried to explain to him that it was a lie and that it had nothing to do with that. Ever since Yukito came out to his father, the man could never acknowledge him. He kept asking what he had done wrong to have a gay son. Even Yukito's choice in a partner was a terrible idea.

Yukito always felt like he couldn't so anything right. He no longer had a father to call his own, even thought he had been like that since Yukito lost mother.

"Wow, this place looks horrible," Penguinmon commented staring around the disastrous kitchen.

"This was only three days of me being gone. They say it's usually the opposite. Kids are supposed to be the messy ones and the parents are the clean freaks. Not in this household."

"Where do you think your father is?"

"Knowing him? The bars," Yukito sighed.

"What's the plan?"

"Get this place sparkling. I'm so sorry I couldn't bring you into a better environment."

"As long as I'm with you it doesn't matter."

Yukito grinned as he put his bags into his bedroom and returned to the kitchen rolling up his sleeves. Penguinmon seemed ready to go as well after filling up a bucket.

"All right partner, let's get started. Think you could check the living room for any other dishes and I'll try to get these started?"

"Of course…where?"

"Through the door on the right," Yukito replied.

Yukito couldn't believe the state the place was left in. How could his father not value a sense of cleanliness every now and again? Food particles were sticking to the places refusing to come off. He was just happy no science experiments ever occurred.

"Holy Yggdrasil! How much does this man consume?" Penguinmon squawked snapping Yukito from his thoughts.

"You would be amazed. Do you require some assistance?"

"I should be good. Ew…I just stepped in something wet."

"Why do I have a feeling this place is going to scar you for life?" Penguinmon came waddling into the kitchen holding on to a large pile of plates and bowls. Behind him was a webbed foot trail of some form of liquid. Sniffing slightly, Yukito caught the faint smell of beer.

"I'll give you a bath after all this."

"Just tell me what I stepped in. It's disgusting." "By the smell of it…beer."

"You're father is a pig," Penguinmon groaned handing over the dishes.

"I know he is and I am so sorry."

The two got to work right afterward, Penguinmon helping with drying the dishes and placing them on the counter while Yukito was up to his elbows in soap as he scrubbed at the leftovers. A disturbing image came across his mind as he continued to scrub. Months back after staying with his aunt and uncle for the week and left his father to his own devices, Yukito returned home to an even messier kitchen and fuzz growing on the plates.

A gagging noise sounded from the back of Yukito's throat as he recalled scrubbing the dishes and soaking the worst ones. The fuzz was something that made him cringe to the point where he had to step back.

Penguinmon looked up at him as Yukito shook his head. "Bad memories, that's all," was Yukito's only response.

Once the pile of dishes disappeared from the sink and back up into the cupboards, Yukito and Penguinmon moved on to the rest of the kitchen, scrubbing the walls, sweeping and mopping the floors. If it weren't for Yukito the apartment would have been unliveable.

The process of cleaning was becoming longer and harder as soon as the two made it to the living room an hour later. Beer, vodka and rum bottles littered the floor, tables and couch. A dripping noise could be heard on one side of the living room. Turning to investigate, Yukito groaned when he saw a tipped over bottle of beer. This was getting out of hand, wasn't it obvious to the man that he needed to change his ways.

It wasn't until ten o'clock when Penguinmon and Yukito were able to crash on the couch, exhaustion filling them. Right there and then Yukito could have gone into a coma. Every part of his body screamed at him, after being on his feet for so long in the digital world and finally getting home after an all day event and cleaning, he needed his well deserved sleep.

"Hungry," moaned Penguinmon beside him.

Unfortunately the stomach of the Digimon came first before anything else. Yukito just let his head fall to the side as he looked at his partner.

"Counter offer…bath first then I'll feed you."

"I could use a year long soak."

"My poor Digimon."

Yukito picked his Digimon up and headed to the bathroom to run a warm bath for the tired penguin. Yukito could hold off a little while later till he showered. As long as his body allowed him.

"Ever think of staying with Robert if your father is like this?" Penguinmon asked after the two were washed up and Yukito in a pair of skull pyjama bottoms.

"More then once, his parents insist on it," Yukito replied picking at the food on the plate between the two of them.

"Why not do it?"

"You kidding? Dad won't allow it and will fight to keep me in the house as long as possible."

"So what are your dad's thoughts on him?"

"Hates him, even the mere fact of me being gay is wrong, he thinks I'm going through a phase or something."

"What's wrong with being gay?" Penguinmon asked honestly.

"Nothing, my father frowns upon it because it's not normal and most of society thinks the same."

"Well, I see it as an awesome thing. You and Robert are adorable together."

"Thanks bud, I needed that," Yukito commented hugging him tightly.

Victoria gathered her belongings from the back of the van after Dragomir pulled up to her apartment. Viximon, who got into the sugar stash along the way, was hyper beyond belief and bouncing on the spot waiting for her partner to hurry it up.

"Thanks again Dragos. It was good seeing you again."

"You too Tori, pleasant dreams."

"Chin up Yumi, remember, I'm just a phone call away."

"Thank you Tori, means a lot."

Victoria waved as the van rolled away leaving her and the hyper Digimon.

"Can we go, can we go, can we go?"

"Viximon, how much did you truly inhale from my stash?"

"I think you might need another trip in. You have less than half."

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me unconditionally?"

"I can do that."

Victoria grabbed the bags after picking up Viximon and headed for the apartment building doors. The rumbling of a motorcycle sounded behind her indicating Johnny and Ember finally caught up with her.

"About time you two."

"Hey, don't blame us, we got stuck behind traffic."

"Oh excuses, excuses," Victoria replied with a smirk.

Ember looked like she was going to smack her upside the head for that comment but held off knowing the young girl was joking around.

"All right, shall we go check on the ghost children?" Johnny asked.

"Let's go!"

"Hey! Little help with the bags here? Not really the lightest things around," called Victoria struggling with the suitcases.

"So demanding aren't you?"

"Apparently so, here. Warning, heavy."

Ember went to take the bag into her hands before dropping forward. "Holy, what do you have in here? Bricks?"

"Just my stuff."

"Oh I believe that, like I believe Johnny brings good luck."

That started the long winded bickers between the pre-teen and ghost rocker all the way to the apartment. Johnny and Viximon rolled their eyes at the petty little arguments.

"This is going to be a long night that is for sure," Johnny said.

"Tell me about it. Hey, think you two could knock it off for a bit? You're giving me a headache!" Viximon yipped.

Victoria looked over at her partner who had her paws over her ears. "I'm sorry little one. I didn't mean to yell."

"That goes for me too," Ember said after getting a look from Johnny.

"You guys don't' need to bicker. We have more important things to worry about then what's in Victoria's bag."

"She's right. This has been getting to me for a while," Victoria said suddenly.

"What?" Ember and Johnny asked in unison.

"When we came home for that brief time…Dani remembered Viximon, and what happened for four years ago."

"I remember that, she didn't look as questioningly as we did," Johnny admitted.

Ember looked over at Victoria as they entered the building and made their way to the elevator. "What would be the chances of Dani being the tenth child? Think of it, if you guys are the Digidestined because you saw what battle four years ago, and Dani saw that same battle. That's the only logical sense to come to mind."

"She has a point. It would be a good idea to look into."

"Couldn't there be a chance of someone else seeing that same battle?" Victoria countered trying to come up with different ideas then her little cousin.

"There is that too, but honestly, thinking logically, why would she recall Viximon? Say Dragos saw the battle, why in the world wouldn't he know?" Ember questioned.

"We didn't know of the Digimon either," Victoria shrieked pushing the button.

"Point taken."

"Elevator from hell," Viximon groaned as soon as the doors opened.

"Remember, it's only a short trip."

"Akasha, Scarlett, come here you two!" a young girl, Dani with black hair pulled back into a ponytail called. She put down two dishes of dog food on to the ground for the dogs. "Dinner!"

The large white and silver fur husky and tawny coloured pug came running from every direction of the living room, charging toward the food.

"Holy hungry dogs," Youngblood said.

"They are little pigs. Did you get the two bowls filled with water yet?"

"Oh, I was supposed to do that?" Youngblood asked cheekily.

"You are a pain."

"You love me."

"Danielle, we're home!" a woman's voice called from the doorway.

"Hey mom, hey dad!" Dani smiled stepping around the corner.

"Well, you are looking better," Yamato replied.

"Complete recovery," Dani smirked.

"Little rascal. Been behaving at least?" Akima asked kissing the top of Dani's head.

"When have I never behaved?"

"Do we have to list them?" Yamato chuckled.

"And the fact my loving parents don't trust me. I'm hurt," Dani said placing a hand over her heart in mock hurt.

Akima and Yamato were the best things to happen to Dani and Victoria's life. They weren't like every other parent, they knew how to joke around with their daughters and accept them for them. Although there were times when Victoria would get under her skin, she still loved her with every ounce of fibre she had.

"Oh you are such the drama queen. Did you feed the dogs?" Akima asked coming into the kitchen and placing the bags of groceries on the counter.

"Just did, both have fresh food and water."

"What about Snowy?"

"Sleeping," Dani replied. "How did everything go?"

"Oh you know the usual. It went well."

Victoria stood outside her apartment letting out a sigh. If her folks were home, the questions were going to be interesting. If they were gone, she could easily get away with everything no worries. Ember and Johnny were intangible on either side of her just in case not wanting to explain who they were. Neither Akima nor Yamato knew about Ember or Johnny, nor did they know about Dani, and they wanted to keep it that way.

"Going to be okay?" Viximon whispered.

"Peachy. Come on."

Pushing the door open and pulling her suitcase with her, Victoria stepped over the threshold and got to the stairs, enough space to keep her belongings before her as well as be able to take her boots off and keep Viximon out of sight.

A loud chorus of barking sounded form the kitchen before the scrambling of paws as Akasha and Scarlett came charging towards her. Victoria quickly got up from her spot wanting to avoid being tackled and mauled by her loving dogs.

"Akasha, Scarlett, down girls, down!" Victoria yelped.

Viximon tried to hide behind Victoria as she wanted to avoid being attacked by the bigger dogs again. All it ended up doing was her getting under Victoria's feet causing her to stumble and fall backwards hitting her suitcases in the process.

"Ow!"

"Victoria, is that you?" Akima asked poking her head out from the kitchen. Her black hair pulled into a low ponytail. She blinked in surprise as the dogs were licking Victoria.

"Yeah…pfft…it's me…gah…girls!"

"Akasha, Scarlett, up girls!" Akima called hitting her leg to get their attention. The dogs looked up and saw Akima sand ran towards her.

"Thank you," Victoria groaned sitting up wiping her face.

"What are you doing here?"

"You mean I don't live here any more?" Victoria asked feigning hurt.

"You are so dramatic," Akima chuckled leaning against the wall watching her oldest stand up and dust off her clothes.

"Camp was cancelled due to snow," Victoria shrugged innocently.

"Snow? Who would have thought it for this time of year?" she frowned.

"Are you sure she's telling the truth?" Yamato asked grinning, his blue hair slicked back.

"Love you too dad, for once I'm telling the truth…well one that one."

"So you mean all that…"

"Was the truth with white lies thrown in."

"All right give me all your dirty clothes so I can wash them."

"No problem…just give me a little bit."

Victoria gathered all her stuff as she scooped Viximon up and headed toward her room. It was so good to be home after all that time being away. She was so happy that no time had passed; she would have missed all the fun times.

Once safe in her room, Victoria let Viximon go from her arms and let her land on the bottom bunk bed and sprawl out on the dark purple sheets. Taking the chance, Victoria started taking apart her suitcase and bags immediately putting things away. She was too organized for her own good.

"I would never expect someone to have all this stuff," Ember commented looking at all the things Victoria took from her bag.

"I am a collector."

"Sure, if that's what you want to believe."

Victoria shared the room with Dani, her on the top bunk and Victoria on the bottom. The walls were a dark blue colour; the two had their ups and downs on the colours. On the shelving along the one wall held different figurines from fairies to wolves to dragons.

The room itself was fairly large, a medium size bookshelf by the opposite wall of the window. On the shelving was a medium size flat screen. DVDs made up a small section of the books. She had the entire Nightmare on elm street movies, Halloween, Friday the 13th all in the originals and remakes of all of them. Every vampire movies made over the years. Tim Burton creations and a bunch of other movies.

Her CD collections were from back in the '80s to now with all the heavy metal bands both Japanese and English. She had the same collections as Yumi and Kiva had, but with an additional Within Temptation, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Lyriel. She was a fan of a big collection of the popular bands.

There was a long desk opposite the bunk beds by the window. It held a black laptop belonging to her; the desk was big enough to hold both their working spaces. Beside the laptop was a picture frame with a picture of Yumi, Victoria, and Kiva sitting at the beach on a log. They were wearing band t-shirts and black pants with chains on the sides. The picture was taken a year ago, it was at the beginning of September and their summer vacation was just ending, but not their fun.

Johnny and Ember were at her side looking at the picture as well. That was also when Ember held her concert along with a few other bands.

"Oh that was a good day," Ember smirked.

"Oh yeah, especially after losing my hearing for the week," snickered Victoria.

"A suspicious life form has been spotted around the bay area." The screen on the TV changed to show SkullSatamon, as Victoria, Ember and Johnny leaned forward on the computer chair, beanbag chair or bed. "There's speculation that it's some kind of monster…police are currently investigating."

Victoria groaned and face palmed from the computer chair, Viximon was curled up on her lap sleeping. It was an hour after they ate and were now currently sitting in her room again. "Oh this is perfect. Why do we have to deal with the bloody cops?"

"Chill Tori, you have to think calmly about all of this. We don't need to go on an up roar over this."

"How can I think calmly? All hell is breaking lose. This is bull shit."

The creaking of the door startled the four in the room, jumping they looked over to see Dani, Youngblood, and the skull parrot enter the bedroom. Victoria let out a sigh as she placed her hand on Viximon to calm her.

"Scare you?" Dani chuckled.

"Haha, you're funny."

"What are you watching?" Youngblood asked looking over at the screen seeing the monsters fighting.

"News," Johnny replied.

Dani turned to face the screen as well with the continuation of the fight before looking up at the ceiling in thought as Youngblood made a face. "I remember when Viximon got really huge and fought with a big bird monster."

"And beat him," Victoria responded quietly in thought. Youngblood blinked at them only ever meeting Viximon recently.

Ember, who sat on the beanbag chair, turned her attention to Victoria, blinking at her.

"That's something I'll NEVER forget!" she grinned not noticing the exchange of looks.

Victoria looked over at Ember, with raised eyebrows and turned her gaze to Dani as a conversation via eyes started. Viximon, who was still awake but drowsy piped up. "This might sound strange and really out there but do you have something called a Digivice?"

Dani exchanged looks with Youngblood, frowning. "I…don't think so. What is it?"

"Something like this," Victoria picked her own Digivice from the desk and held it in an outstretched hand.

Dani took a look at the Digivice as Youngblood poked at it. She shook her head after a moment. "Nope. Sorry," she responded.

Ember couldn't believe her ears; she frowned in confusion and frustration. She was sure that Dani was the one they were looking for. "I was so sure of it. This was our best lead."

"Will you quit it!?" Victoria yelped getting annoyed with the constantly poking of Youngblood with the Digivice.

**A/N: All right, so here is the look of the four homes of the characters. Each has their own home problems, from drunkenness, abuse (even though not shown) to mental problems. Victoria doesn****'****t really have a family problem, obviously more of what it is like to be in an adoptive family among other things. As well, you kind of get a look of what Yumi****'****s look goes into when frustrated.**

**Youngblood: Yay! The fabulous that is me has now been revealed.**

**Ember: Oh shut up twerp.**

**Victoria: Don****'****t get use to it Pirate boy.**

**Youngblood: Oh man.**


	47. The Vampires Hunt

**A/N: Thank you to We are made of broken dreams, San Child of the Wolves, Night's Oath and White Hunter for your fabulous reviews, as well to my ever growing subscribers. It all means so much, now as a change of pace, we now get to see Myotismon.**

**Chapter 47**

**The Vampire's Hunt**

**August 1****st**** (9:30pm)**

The scent of blood was still thick in the air when Kudamon approached the building to alert her master that night had fallen and it was safe to venture out. She wrapped gently on the door, knowing he would hear the summons even if she merely scratched at it.

"My lord," she voiced, forcing a respectful tone. After a few seconds she heard a click in the door and braced herself in preparation for the onslaught of the smell of decay.

The door finally opened, revealing her dark master looking better than ever. She was surprised at his appearance and the lack of an additional smell.

"You look well, my lord. The rest did you good."

"Indeed," Myotismon said quietly. He paused as a soft breeze flowed past and dislodged a few strands of hair from his head and into his face. His brows furrowed as he pushed it back into place. Satisfied, he continued speaking. "I hadn't taken into consideration that Earth might not have been as protected from the sun as my castle was, or that it would be daytime in the first. A mistake on my part, but one that won't be repeated."

He began walking forward, Kudamon kept up behind him. She noticed something clutched in his hand. She was unsure of how he would react if she said something about it, so she stayed silent.

"Did you find a place to make a base, Kudamon?" he inquired, glancing at her from the side.

"Not yet, master. While you were resting, we smaller creatures scoured the area to find a suitable hideaway. We are still searching for a place, however, master."

"You are making sure it's away from the humans?"

"Yes my lord, but it was difficult. Those creatures are everywhere! That's why only some of us could go searching. SkullMeramon or one of your Devidramon would have caused uproar, and you said you wanted things to stay quiet during the early stages. Even thought SkullSatamon decided to cause a bit of a commotion."

"What happened?"

"He located the girl that has no Digimon and her two friends. He left the scene after fighting with the rest of group after giving chase."

"She is going to give us problems. I can see it already," Myotismon sneered.

"My lord, what do you plan to do with her?"

"When the time is right, have one of my men bring her to me. I'll deal with her personally."

"Master, do you think it will affect your ability to hunt, my lord?"

He chuckled darkly and tossed around the object he had been holding. "No…" he said slowly, coming to a halt and staring down at the fox. "There should be no problems. All I need do is stay hidden and get one alone. Should be quite easy after that."

"But how can you be so sure, master? I don't mean to be rude, but you've never-"

"They are incredibly weak and simple minded," he interrupted, holding in the air what he had been clutching so Kudamon could see. It was a bone. She shrunk back involuntarily as a slightly sick feeling washed over her. "There was one inside the building," he continued. "I overpowered him in less than a minute's time. I will admit they seem to have a will to live...even after I dropped him so that he would die he continued to fight. Doesn't make up for their weakness, though. As long as I make sure they are dead when I am done with them there should be no problems."

"Of course...master. I'm sorry for doubting you," Kudamon said quietly, resolve no longer existent.

He smiled wickedly. "Once we find the tenth child, killing it should be exceedingly simple. As long as neither found their partners they won't stand a chance!"

They started walking once more; Kudamon couldn't pull her eyes from the bone still clutched in her master's hand. Is that what he would do to the particular human they were after and Yumi?

"Since…you've already eaten...my lord...would do you propose you do for the evening?"

He was displeased with the tone she had taken on. He narrowed his eyes at the question she brought up. "That is none of your concern, Kudamon. However, I would like to scout the area myself. It would do me good to learn where there are places that are quiet now so I can feed easily tomorrow. I will meet you here before dawn. Take this." He tossed the bone at her. She struggled to catch it with her small paws.

"I want you to put it in my chamber. There it will stand as a trophy of my first kill in this world and the many more that are going to come."

"Y-yes, my lord," she whispered, watching him retreat and disappear into the darkness. Her eyes rested upon the object now in her hands. It had once belonged to a living creature whose life had been snuffed out by her master. She had seen him kill before, and threatened Kota of a fatal future if he misbehaved. Not once before had he ever presented her with such a grisly reminder. Finally she set off towards his chamber to hand the trophy, unsure of what else was to come.

The fierce winds stung against his face as he ran through the crowded streets. He forced people out of the way, unrelenting in his speed despite the obstacles. Finally, he broke off the road into a narrow alley and pushed himself against the building. He struggled to keep quiet and control so that his pursuer wouldn't hear him. Glancing sideways, he saw only pedestrians he may have pushed out of the way earlier pass by.

He finally relaxed, allowing himself to breathe more normally. He collapsed onto the ground and rubbed his face in an effort to steady his emotions. He had always been told by his Aunt Destiny to clear ones mind and let the legs guide when running. "As long as you know the area, you can make the area into your personal playground."

"Its better when you aren't the prey," the boy sighed wiping the swear from his brow. His blue, red and black spiked hair was losing its style from the run. He wasn't expecting to be running for his life when he styled his hair earlier that day.

His piercing sparkled in the moonlight, in one ear alone he had a cartilage, industrial, rook, daith, conque, anti-tragus, tragus, lobule and traversal lobe all pierced with different styles of earring in them. On the other side only the cartilage, tragus and lobule was pierced. He also had a nose, eyebrow piercing and shark bites. His dark clothes helped him blend into the night, but apparently he wasn't as protected as he thought he was. His name was Constantine Rosetti and was now in his fifteenth year. For three years he had been living with his older brother in different apartments after deciding to leave home while their parents moved back to Romania.

He had been walking down the street, heading home from a visit to the cemetery for some down time just like he always did. This night was different. He had noticed halfway through the forested path that a fog had formed without realizing. Within ten minutes of this discovery he couldn't see more than ten feet away. He knew the path, but that didn't keep him from growing uneasy, normally something like that wouldn't get to him, however, and with so many disappearances of people on news as of late made him rethink things.

A voice, deep and rich and full of a detectable malice had called to him on the wind. He quickened his pace as his heart began beating wildly, unnerved by the ghastly sound. He felt something brush against his arm, but didn't stop to find out what it was nor look back. He took off running as fast as he could down the path ahead of him. He needed to remind himself that he didn't need to fear anything, but his mind was telling him something completely different. As he ran he heard heavy footsteps behind him. Everything he learned from his grandfather when officially out the window. He refused to stand and fight, refused to face his assailant head on. These footsteps didn't sound as if they were running as well though. They were steady and even, as if someone was walking behind him and still catching up.

Trees had ended abruptly and he was thrust onto a busy street, and having pushed his way through many people found the alleyway.

Glancing once more at the street, he noticed the fog had followed him, though it did move slowly. He shoved himself up and tried to escape the space between the buildings or at least locate something to use to climb, but was too late. The fog had passed by and created a barrier he couldn't pass through. He stepped backwards and moved even further into the dark than he had before and placed an arm against the wall to steady his shaking body.

"Rahat, rahat (1);" Constantine cursed under his breath at his stupidity for getting cornered like a rat. "Fratele Sunt atat de rau (2)."

He heard the dark voice again, even closer now than before. Fog and darkness mixed to create a thick veil through which he could see nothing but a large silhouette. It appeared at the darkest end of the alley and approached slowly. This time there were no footsteps, as if the figure was...floating. As it approached, it grew larger and more distinguishable, and through the fog he could see a faint color of blue.

"Trebuie sa fie glummest…prins de un vampir (3)?"

It still looked as if it were a distance away when an arm flew forward like a bolt of lighting and grabbed his neck. He was flung backwards against the wall the figure had approached from. Constantine struggled to breathe as a pair of bright, blue eyes appeared before him.

There was no way Constantine would allow his attacker to see him back down and cower in fear. That was not his way, he was a fighter. He let out a hiss of pain as the pressure on his neck got worse. He narrowed his own azul blue eyes at his assailant, who at this time scowled at the fact that the boy showed no fear. It fell silently to the ground so that it's pale face was at the same level as his.

"Who are you?" Constantine whispered in a raspy voice. He received no answer but the sharp glare of icy blue eyes. "What...what do you want from me?" he asked forcing as much strength in his voice as possible.

"You have something I need," It said to him, reaching forwards and tilting his chin upwards and staring longingly at his neck Constantine shuddered at the coldness of its touch. He was right after all of what it was. How will he live it down from the others if he were bitten by a vampire?

"I won't…let you take it…I won't," he rasped struggling against the vampire.

"I wasn't asking for permission child," It told him, leaning against and pinning Constin's body against the wall. Its other arm snaked behind the arch of his back and pulled him upwards so that his neck was level with its mouth.

"Don't kill me!" he begged hoarsely, even though it didn't seem to make a difference. Be bitten, he forsaken his family, not get bitten, he was dead anyway. The creature's eyes flickered upwards, locked once more onto the second set of blue eyes. Constantine looked away, unable to hold his gaze. It leaned forward, head moved to a position against his neck.

"I cannot allow you to leave her. My presence cannot yet be known," It said, dark voice slightly muffled against his skin. "If you wish to live, it must be as a slave."

"Slave…" he whispered, unsure of what it might entail, and whether death might be a better fate. Who was the 'her' he referred to? Was there something on he didn't know about?

"That is your choice. You serve me, or I kill you. Make it quickly, boy, I am hungry."

Constantine felt his heart beat quicken as he continued to struggle in the creatures grasp. The racing heart caused the creature to let out a growl of desire. He slumped into the creatures embrace, letting out a shaky sigh.

"I don't fear death…but I don't believe my time is up just yet," he muttered, surrendering himself, feeling sickened by the fact he was going to be a food supply for the blood sucker. He felt the creature smile against his neck before its lips parted and sharp teeth bit un-relentlessly into his flesh.

Only a few seconds after the initial flash of pain he could feel himself becoming drowsy. Though faintly, he could feel himself being lifted along with the predator as it slowly stood to it's original height, there was a good eight inches between them, and dragged the boy upwards against the wall with it. He was still clinging to consciousness when it pulled away. Something in the creature's eyes changed as he stared at the teen before him. He dropped Constantine roughly to the ground, and though he was nearly unconscious, he felt the tremendous pain of his legs shattering as they hit the pavement.

"Oh dear," Constantine's assailant growled coldly. "Look at what you've gone and done, Boy."

Constantine yelped in pain as he tried and failed to speak but found his throat far too sore. Weakly, he tilted his head upwards to meet the icy blue eyes that were now dancing with amusement. He knew something that could work to his advantage.

"You won't be very useful to me with a damaged leg, now will you, dear Costica? It looks as if I will have to let you die after all." The pet name his assailant decided to utter caused him to shudder. He hated that pet name with a passion, his cousins and brother used it on him when they teased him.

"No…" Constantine rasped, emitting a pitiful sound, which drew a cold and maniacal laugh from the predator before him. He almost was reminded of the days of training and always ending up on his ass in a fight.

"Or…perhaps…you can be of use after all…" the creature told him slowly, malice still dripping from his voice and a crazed smirk forming on his lips as the thought formed in his head. "No...You won't need legs for what I have in mind for you now."

He grabbed Constantine roughly from the ground, causing him to yelp in pain and willed the fog to grow thicker. Merging carefully into the magical mist, he rode the winds to his lair with the boy in his arms, mind devising with cruel delight ways to torture the human during times when he would remain underground and allow his servants to search in his place. And perhaps find out more information the boy seemed to be hiding.

**A/N: All right my lovelies, a little twist in the chapter. We got to see Myotismon go on his hunt of Japan. He obviously got a hold of a boy that holds a very dark secret, much the same as a familiar character. Now obviously, I've changed things with vampire bites/feedings, mainly with Myotismon. When he feeds he's able to see into his victims past. He also knows Constantine's name and uses the pet for Costica. So here are the pet names: Costel and Costica. His nickname, which I used once already, is Costin. Hope you enjoy this chapter and yes it is shorter, most of the villain's chapters will be short and for once I kept my word on having it up within a day.**

**(1) "Rahat, rahat" is Romanian for "Shit, shit"**

**(2) "Fratele Sunt atat de rau" is Romanian for "I am so sorry brother"**

**(3) "Trebuie sa fie glumesti…prins de un vampir?" is Romanian for "You must be kidding…caught by a vampire?"**


	48. Nothing out of the ordinary

**A/N: A huge thank you to San Child of the Wolves, We are made of broken dreams, White Hunter and Night****'****s oath for your epic reviews. Poor Constantine has become the new victim to Myotismon****'****s sick ways. Hope you enjoy this one. Kind of a ****"****dull****"**** one so to speak.**

**Chapter 48**

**Nothing out of the ordinary**

**August 1****st**** (10pm)**

The streets were getting quiet as families began to head home for the night. Party goers still lingered around as they started to head to the nearest bars or local dance clubs. With everything going on and all the scares, it didn't seem to both any of the party animals.

A young man strolled along the streets enjoying the silence. He didn't seem to mind that he had lost sight of the strange creature he had been tracking. For right now he seemed content with that information he could get from the small creature.

He stood under a street lamp, the light cascading down upon him. He was dressed in a fancy black tuxedo, a white dress shirt could be seen underneath along with a red bow tie. His silver hair pulled back into a low ponytail. It was the same man that had been exiting the apartment back in Odaiba.

Vlad Masters had headed back to Highton View Terrace after finding no knowledge of his precious daughter. He knew he was getting close he just didn't know how close.

Damn that insufferable, vial woman for sending her away from him. The little half ghost would soon be back into his grasp once more. Her powers will soon be his to control.

Vlad had strong connections both in the human world as well as the Ghost Zone. He also had his own henchmen consisting of Skulker and the Vulture ghosts among others. Side from those connections, he is also one of the wealthiest around in America. He has a large mansion in Wisconsin, and is the mayor in Amity Park. As of late, he moved his current location to Japan to find his missing daughter. Here he has an even greater wealth and power.

By the time that Vlad finally returned to Highton View Terrace, it was here he discovered strange creatures roaming around the city streets. While one should never consider anything strange due to their own secrets, there was definitely something different about them.

~Flashback~

Vlad arrived back in Highton View Terrace, the sun cascading down upon the black vehicle he drove in. While at any other times he would have his driver take him, Vlad had his own plans and the fact that a driver would slow him down.

At the time being he remained in his human form, keeping away from the eyes of the public. It didn't take long until something caught his eye in the distance. His midnight blue eyes turned red s he continued to study the creature.

After stashing the car in an underground parking lot, Vlad allowed his ghost alter ego to take over. Black rings formed over his body as he went from wearing the black tux to a pure white suit with red on the inside of this cape. His grey hair turned black and styled in horn forms.

'_Now, let__'__s see what we are getting ourselves into,__'_ Vlad thought to himself going intangible and taking to the skies.

It wasn't long before he saw a small white fox creature with a god band around its neck. Keeping his distance, Vlad watched as the fox was eyeing a group of children, something around its neck glinted in the sunlight, catching his eye in an instant.

'_What importance is that necklace? Probably nothing to concern oneself,__'_ Vlad murmured keeping a watchful eye on the necklace as the fox checked on the image inside. Nothing seemed to happen, which truly spiked Vlad's curiosity more and more.

When the fox ran off down the street after the surprise attack by a stray dog, Vlad lay in wait hoping to locate another creature soon.

Hours later his wait came to an end when a small round bowling ball with wings came fluttering by. He was carrying what appeared to be a gold chain connected to a gold tag. He truly hoped that he could discover some sort of importance to the necklace. It looked like the same of the fox wore.

Watching the thing flap away, Vlad went intangible and began to follow him. It was getting late in the afternoon and there was no absolute sign of valuable information. Although the further that Vlad followed the bat the more he noticed more and more creatures appeared.

"With the amount of Digimon out searching for the tenth child brat, the faster it will take to rid the planet of these creatures and have master rule over it," the bat sneered perching itself on top of a pole.

'_Tenth child? Digimon? Hmm, I must really find out more of this. Now, wonder what the other so called __'__Digimon__'__ have to say.__'_

Leaving the bat alone to ponder in his thoughts, Vlad took off back into the main city to where the other 'Digimon' were stationed. Looking around he noticed the same similarities. They all wore the same gold chains and matching images. What was the significance of those? Now he really must know. He knew he had the option of overshadow the Digimon, but what wouldn't get him anywhere fast. Scanning the area quickly, he noticed what appeared to be a red skeleton leaning on a staff glaring into the crowd of people.

The creature was covered by the shadows of the buildings, keeping himself hidden by the pedestrians. Now this was interesting, why would he be kept hidden? Why not show himself and cause mayhem that so many of the ghost Vlad knew did? Or was he supposed to keep his identity secret? Oh so many questions but not enough answers. He must really find this 'master' of theirs and try to get some information out of him.

Vlad kept his distance as he watched the vigilant 'Digimon'; he seemed to be waiting for somebody. The creature never moved from the spot, even after half an hour. Vlad found himself growing bored, this was something that Skulker would be equipped to do, not him.

No matter how much this bored him, he needed to keep his calm demeanour and just see what would happen.

With so many voices around them, three voices seemed to stick out the most to him making him raise an eyebrow in question. This also seemed to catch the skeleton's attention as well.

"Yumi…think….you could slow down?" gasped the familiar female voice belonging to his niece, Victoria, as she desperately kept up as best as she could with her good friend.

"I would love too but truly, not in the mood to lose him again," the girl, Yumi, called back, her own breath just as ragged.

"I thought you would say that."

"You so need to work out more," the familiar rocker ghost known as Ember joked. So this is where she felt her loyalty lay. At least now she would be suffering a deadly fate.

"Oh bite me ghost girl," Victoria commented.

"Stop bickering back there," Yumi warned. "Hey, it's getting closer."

The three passed by Vlad and the skeleton Digimon, this now became interesting. He had his niece close at hand, giving him the advantage of finding Dani after all this time. He held back from over shadowing either of the girls for the time being, he would use that later. As for the time being he took the advantage to follow once the Digimon started to follow the girls.

As time ticked on, Vlad learned that the skeleton Digimon was known as SkullSatamon. The necklace that the Digimon, as well as the girls, he finally realized wore were known as Crests, each hold a special meaning. The ones around the Digimon's neck belonged to the Tenth child they were all searching for.

'_Oh, this just became a very interesting day indeed.__'_

~End Flashback~

Vlad Masters grinned as he continued down the street, wondering what he could find at this time of night. He still wished he could locate the one the Digimon referred to as Master. He was sure that he could strike a deal with him.

It had been hours since he saw his niece and her friends leave Highton View Terrace with an older Goth boy. He recalled Skulker informing him before that it was Yumi's older cousin. There was so much he had learned about the two girls due to Skulker, as well as Yumi's wolf secret. He grinned at that very thought; perhaps there was a way to use Yumi to their own advantage.

Not only had it been hours since they left, it had been hours since seeing the Digimon. He cursed himself slightly for letting them out of his sight. No matter, he was sure that he could find them eventually; there was no sleep for either of them.

The streets were getting desolate and darker, Vlad kept to the sidewalks keeping out of the streetlamps. The loud laughter of drunken girls up above him sounded in the night time. Above him out of the corner of his eye he could see a figure in the shadows. At first he thought it might have been Skulker but the aura didn't fit the being.

Disappearing from sight, Vlad turned into his ghost form again and turned invisible, flying up to the top of the wall. There he could see what was watching the girls. Unlike earlier, the Digimon wasn't wearing a trench coat. He wore black pants with flames on the side, skull boats and chains wrapped around his upper torso. His hair was blue and purple flames. He reminded Vlad of a male version of Ember minus the chains.

Perhaps he could be of use to him, smirking, Vlad landed in the bushes behind the Digimon, not making a noise. Once more he became physical and stepped out of the bushes and stood behind the Digimon.

It didn't take long before SkullMeramon turned around and glared at the vampire like ghost behind him. There was no way he could trust this man. In what right did this man think he could waltz up to him? Did he mean to kill him? Ha, that's a laugh, he'll kill him first. But what was that look in his eye? What was he planning?

"Who are you?" SkullMeramon demanded standing his ground.

"I could ask you the same question," Vlad replied, smirking at the irate Digimon.

"If you are going to play these games then I can easily kill you on the spot."

"Oh that won't be necessary I assure you," Vlad grinned folding his arms over his chest.

"What are you talking about? If you truly won't give me an answer, I'll simply kill you!" With that SkullMeramon lunged towards Vlad sending out a flame thrower.

Smirking, Vlad easily went intangible missing the blast and sent out his ghost rays in the form of explosive "Ghost Ray" disks. SkullMeramon wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack and got sent flying backwards. Vlad began to proceed to the unconscious (or so he thought) Digimon ready to find out any particular information or perhaps overshadow him and make his way to his master.

SkullMeramon wasn't going to stay down for long, although he was hurt from the blast, he refused to let the man destroy him. Using the chains, SkullMeramon sent them towards Vlad hoping to keep him tied down so he could force the answers out of him.

Unfortunate for him, the chains went through Vlad as he went intangible once more. There was no way he was going to let some unknown creature take him out.

SkullMeramon was dumbfounded by the way his chains moved through the man. From there, blows were exchanged between the two showing off to each other who was better.

After some time, Vlad grew tired of the endless charade and decided to play games with SkullMeramon's head by splitting himself into four duplicates. SkullMeramon, who now began to get angry started to attack the duplicates not realizing the real Vlad disappeared and overshadowed him.

"We can go at this all night, unfortunately that isn't going to get us far. Now, I can easily keep this up all night as well, I have complete control over your body and can make you do as I please. Hopefully this way I can have your complete attention."

There was silence after that as Vlad left SkullMeramon's body, a confused and painful look on his face as he stared at the man before him.

"Before we begin, I demand to know who you are!"

For a moment, no sound came from SkullMeramon as he tried to figure out what happened.

"SkullMeramon. Who the hell are you?"

"There now, how hard was that? I am known as Vlad Plasmius and that is all you need to know. I insist of you to take me to your master. I shall be talking with him about all the ends and outs."

"Why should I believe you?"

"The fact I can overshadow you in a heartbeat. My attacks are lot stronger than that of yours and your powers do nothing to me."

"What are you?"

"If you must know, seeing as I already know about you. I am a ghost, half really, but that is mere technicalities. Now, take me to whom you refer as master or I will destroy you now."

"You will not survive once you meet my Master, I assure you on that. If you truly have a wish. Follow me."

Vlad followed closely behind SkullMeramon hoping the Digimon would lead him to the one he seeks. He already knew that he didn't trust him, it was typical though.

It wasn't long before the two arrived at the temporary hide out, a few Bakemon were currently floating by a door, seemingly waiting for someone. SkullMeramon wasn't aware that Myotismon stepped foot outside to go feeding already.

"SkullMeramon, who is this?" the white fox Vlad saw earlier demanded to the fire mecha.

"Someone who wishes to see Lord Myotismon."

"He is out hunting."

"That is no problem, I can easily wait till he returns," Vlad interjected.

"You shall do no such thing."

Grinning, Vlad once again went into overshadowing mode and convinced the fox that things were find and it would be an honour to meet Myotismon.

Like SkullMeramon, she had a dazed look on her face after Vlad left her body. Looking up at the strange man, Kudamon gave a quick, sharp nod.

"And whatever you did. Don't do that again," she shuddered.

Vlad smirked as she took him to one of the rooms they occupied where only a chair occupied the room at the time being. Sitting down, he crossed his leg over the other and waited patiently.

**A/N: All right, probably not one of the interesting chapters, but there it is. This is showing Vlad****'****s interaction with the Digimon, mind you, a very dull one at that. I really hope you guys like it. If those of you have ever seen Danny Phantom before, I tried to do justice on Vlad. As well, being a little different from the show, yes Dani is truly his birth daughter. Obviously that also makes Victoria Vlad****'****s niece. Dani****'****s mom is Victoria****'****s biological mother****'****s sister.**


	49. Digivice Tag

**A/N: To make up for a dull chapter, here is more of an interesting chapter. Thanks guys for the reviews. We are one more chapter away from being out of August 1****st****. Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Night's Oath, White Hunter and Trapped in the void of time for your wicked reviews. Here is a question for all of you****…****how much trouble can a husky, rag doll cat and an in training get into? Read to find out.**

**Chapter 49**

**Digivice tag**

**Aug. 1****st**** (10:30 pm)**

**Monologue: Victoria.**

"It felt really strange being back home, the usual hustle and bustle around the neighbourhood and the conversations in the living room. I never thought it would be possible to see this place ever again. Dani seemed really glad to have me back but that was a given in our situation."

Victoria had stepped foot out of the well deserved shower and stared at her reflection at the now clear mirror. Although her body was yearning for her bed for a goodnights sleep, she forced herself to stay awake just a little longer. The dirt and the filth was enough to make her cringe.

From the other side of the wall toward her bedroom, she could hear Dani laugh at something Youngblood had either said or done. Ember and Johnny were still in the room in a way keeping an eye on the two and just enjoying what was on the TV.

Victoria smiled to herself as she washed away the make up and allowed her natural beauty to shine for the night. In no way was she a narcissistic person but preferred to keep things covered up. Things seemed to be going back to normal all over again, she just hoped it stayed like that and both her lives could be in balance.

"Are you going to hog the bathroom all night or are you actually getting out?" Yamato joked knocking on the door.

"I'm coming, sorry dad."

Throwing her housecoat on over top the towel and herself and tying it up, Victoria opened the door to let the steam out.

"Holy steam shower girl. Is there something we should be concerned about?"

"Side from a steam shower helps me to relax, no."

"So you say."

Making her way to her room, Victoria didn't realize the yellow blur that ran past her from the room. Slipping inside, she saw her cousin sitting on top of the bunk bed wearing her black shorts and tank top with Jack and Sally on the front. Youngblood was sitting in front of her as the two were in the midst of a card game.

Ember seemed to take up residency on the beanbag chair strumming a few cords on her guitar. She was so unfocused and uncaring to those in the room. Johnny was sitting on the computer chair staring blankly at the screen.

"If you weren't already dead I would say you look brain dead," Victoria commented going over to her dresser and grabbing a fresh pain of pyjamas. The bottoms consisted on white skulls on top of black material and the tank top was a matching black with a laughing Jack Skellington in the middle.

"I am so bored," groaned Johnny.

"Pick up a book," she replied slipping her clothes on keeping her back to the ghosts.

"Ew, hate reading."

"Find a hobby, and one that does not require my house to be turned upside down."

"Thank was only once."

"Yeah, once too many."

"There's no getting through to him Tori, just leave it," Ember mentioned.

"That usually happens."

Out in the living room, a sugar hyper Viximon began to look around the living room happy to get away from the confinement of the room. With the sugar getting to her and the skeleton parrot scaring her half to death, she would take the chances out in the living room.

Akima didn't seem to be anywhere near the living room at the moment, neither was Yamato. This probed to be a bonus on her part, which allowed Viximon to search and not get discovered. By humans that was. The animals on the other hand were a whole new story.

Sniffing around the living room, trying to get familiar with her partner's home, a black nose eventually appeared in her path. Slowly looking up, Viximon found herself, once again, face to face with the husky, Akasha. It took everything in her entire body to hold back a terrified yelp.

"So we meet again, huh, pup?" Viximon said standing her ground.

Akasha continued to sniff the yellow puffball that her Victoria brought with her. She didn't get to play with it long the last time; hopefully she'll have a better luck this time.

"You know, if I were in my Rookie form this would be completely different."

The response was now a full body sniffing. Oh how this was humiliating. Didn't Victoria teach this dog not to sniff strange objects or animals?

"Come on, didn't you get enough of me the last time I was here?"

Somehow that was a command for the dog to half lie down, her butt in the air and the tail wagging. Play time, play time! Playful little growls escaped Akasha as she pawed at Viximon. Viximon herself was at a loss for what the large dog wanted.

Akima, who was still in the kitchen washing the dishes, raised her eyebrow at the strangeness that Akasha was getting into.

"Akasha, whom are you growling at girl?"

The husky refused to end the insufferable growling, which turned to barks as she continued to paw at the tiny fox.

Akima, getting extremely curious as to what the dog was doing, went to investigate the activity. Drying her hands off she moved around the counter and headed towards the couch. The first things she saw was the white and silver husky playing with something that was hidden from view of the coffee table. At first she thought perhaps Akasha was playing with Scarlett or even Snowy, but there were no other noises.

Moving around the couch to get a better look at what might be the cause, it was there she spotted the yellow puffball; it truly looked like a doll. Viximon, however, was frozen stiff by Akima's presence.

"Where did you find this? Did you steal it from Victoria and Dani's room?"

Akasha let out a bark almost as if agreeing with the older woman. Akima chuckled at the husky and eyed the small creature.

"Victoria should know better than have her things lying around," Akima chided shaking her head. "You better not rip the poor thing to pieces."

Once Akima left to go back to the kitchen, Viximon let out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close. And she's right you know you better not rip me to pieces."

Behind them, the small pure white kitten with azul eyes matching Viximon's, was cocking her head to the side in confusion at something flashing persistently beneath the nightstand. All she knew at that moment, it was shiny and it was beeping. Sitting before it, her tail swished back and forth on the floor slowly.

As she started to paw at the thing, Akasha grew curious what her cat friend was looking at. Leaving Viximon, Akasha went to go investigate. Although relieved at being left alone, the persistent beeping got to her ears. Victoria desperately needed to check the Digivice, this was getting annoying.

Wait a minute? Digivice? Wasn't that in Victoria's room? Turning around, Viximon went to see what the two were gawking at. There, sitting on the little table was a flashing Digivice. How did Snowy get a hold of it? That was odd…-sniff- it didn't smell like Victoria's. Stepping closer, Viximon sniffed it again. Not it wasn't her partner's Digivice. Wait so that meant…Oh holy Yggdrasil.

Snowy purred as she picked up her shiny prize and carried it off. She wandered out onto the balcony followed by Akasha, leaving the wondering yellow fox. The warm summer breeze blew in through the now open sliding door. Akasha pawed at it a few times before passing it to Snowy to play with. Back and forth the two went passing the Digivice.

Inside, Viximon realized that the beeping went silent and the presence of the animals no longer filled the room. Oh how did she lose those two already? Oh damn her insufferable wondering thoughts. Oh where did those two go? They couldn't have gotten far; it wasn't that big of an apartment.

After looking everywhere, she caught sight of the large husky out on the balcony. Feeling a sigh of relief escape her, Viximon bounded outside where the two continued to pass the Digivice between each other.

"What are you two doing?"

At the sound of Viximon's voice, Akasha accidentally pawed the Digivice a little too hard and a distracted Snowy never caught it in time. All three eyes widened with horror as they watched it fall to the streets below. Viximon sweat dropped as their only chance of finding the child disappeared.

"We are so dead."

Running back inside the three automatically went for the door. If they could get the door open there was an off chance of finding the thing.

"Just open the door and we'll be fine, just open the door and we'll be fine," Viximon repeated like a mantra.

The apartment fell silent as everyone had gone to bed. Akima had finished the dishes not too long ago and returned to her room with Yamato. There wasn't even any sound coming from Victoria's room. Viximon raced to the door only to find it shut. They were dead, they were so dead.

Akasha sat next to Viximon whining wanting to be let out. She started to paw at the door hoping someone could hear her whine. Snowy on the other hand was scratching it and twisting her body. They truly were out door animals.

Inside Victoria's room, Victoria herself was sprawled out on the bottom bunk face first into the pillow. The covers were sort of covering her as she kicked the sheets off. Dani herself was curled up with Youngblood who was holding her like a lover. The two were really good friends and nothing would get between them.

As for Ember and Johnny, Ember was lying fully on the beanbag chairs with Johnny laying his head on her stomach with her arms wrapped around him. The two were so spaced out it would take an earthquake to wake them. It had been ten minutes prior that Victoria had forced her weary body to get up and push together the other beanbag chair so they could actually lie down. Originally Ember had been half on the beanbag chair with Johnny laying his head on her lap. The two looked really uncomfortable in that position.

None of them were aware of the commotion going on out in the hallway. The only sound that did break the silence was a loud snore brought on by Youngblood.

Viximon by this time was getting to the point of frustration after all their failed attempts. As she went to lay down in defeat, a thought came to her as she looked up at Akasha. This…should work.

"Akasha, sit!" Viximon commanded.

Obediently, Akasha sat down, her tail wagging in delight. A smile appeared on Viximon. "Good girl, now, stay. I just hope this works." Viximon climbed on top of Akasha until she was right on top of her head. Careful as she could, she got herself on her hind legs and lifted herself up until she could reach the door handle. Success! Okay, all she had to do now was turn the handle and they could get free.

At first, nothing happened. No matter, she'll keep it up. Each time, nothing happened. Oh there was so something wrong with this picture. With each struggling attempt, Viximon couldn't get the handle to move. Jumping off Akasha's head, Viximon thought more of what they could do. She refused to give up, that was not who she was. Looking over at Snowy this time a grin formed on her lips.

"Come here girl, I have a job for you."

The cat looked at her quizzically trying to figure the small fox out.

"Go and wake Youngblood up, I'm sure he'll help with no questions asked."

The snow white cat debated this for a moment before heading off to the bedroom. For once there was a lot of sleeping people in there. Two of the ghosts were in her spot, it wasn't fair. Ignoring that dilemma for now, Snowy proceeded to make her way to the second bunk after using various things as ledges to leap from.

Once on the bed, Snowy moved over to Youngblood who now was sprawled out over top of Dani. Snowy began purring and meowing as she rubbed her face against his.

The first few times Youngblood refused to move until Snowy finally took matters into her own paws and took residence on his face and started letting out loud meows. This got the young ghosts attention as he shot out of bed and gasped.

"Damn cat."

"Meow!"

"Go back to bed Snowy."

"Meow!"

"Snow?"

"Meow…"

Youngblood raised an eyebrow at the feline, something was going on. Why else would she be all over him? Taking the opportunity, he followed the young feline out into the hall where the husky and Viximon were all crowded around the door.

"Okay? What is going on?"

"Can you open the door? We need to go outside for something."

Youngblood, still in his drowsy mood shrugged and unlocked and opened the door. Giving him a quick thank you, the three bolted down the hall and down the stairs.

Upon reaching outside, the three desperately began their search for the item. It couldn't have gotten far, but why wasn't it beeping? Oh Yggdrasil, did it break from that height? No, it couldn't have.

Akasha sniffed around the bushes that were around the same area as their window. How could something that size just vanish? It was the wide range of tennis balls that continuously went missing when she and Victoria went out to play.

"This would be so much earlier in the day time. This is useless. This is impossible."

Snowy cocked her head in confusion at why Viximon was panicking so much. Just at that time the familiar sound of beeping echoed again. Her ears perked up as she dove for the bushes and hunted for the flashing Digivice. She was so pleased with herself for locating the device.

Viximon's eyes widened as she turned her attention to the bushes where Snowy disappeared. Her jaw dropped open. "Was that…the Digivice?"

Akasha barked excitedly as she bolted to meet the feline and helped her out of the bushes. Now was their chance to continue to play with the little fox.

Viximon was apprehensive about venturing any further into the bushes. She wasn't exactly sure what the two were planning or if there could be a sneak attack any time soon.

"Akasha? Snowy? What's going on in there?"

No sound was heard. This really worried Viximon, the two should have been out by now. Stepping closer to the bushes, Viximon was ready to step inside to check on them. Akasha was the first to leap from the bushes and run off followed by a loud hiss and the white cat took off after the husky.

"Are you kidding me? Wait up you two. Man, does Victoria and Dani ever play with you two?"

Akasha now held the Digivice in her mouth, running as quickly as she possibly could to get to safety. Snowy was able to keep up with her large friend, in these streets alone this time of night, it was not wise to be out on their own.

Forcing her small legs to run, Viximon took off after the other two cursing her stubby legs and for resorting back to Viximon over Renamon. For now, she had to keep her mind clear and focused on the target ahead.

Every now and again, Akasha would pass the Digivice to Snow for a bit before having it be sent back. Each time one would have it, they would speed up really teasing the tiny fox. Mind you, the two were being nice and slow down every so often, but speed up as soon as she got close enough. This game went on for a good long time.

After some time when Snowy got the Digivice back, Akasha ran a head of her hoping to meet up with the cat once more and really mess with Viximon's head. Snowy decided to take a nearby alley thinking she could rest and stay hidden. Only problem with house cats, they often weren't as full of knowledge as strays were.

Snowy placed the device down to catch her breath; silence filled the darkness allowing her time to breathe before taking off again. A small growl came from what appeared to be every side of her. It took a while to see two glowing gold eyes in front of her. It was staring directly at her, daring her to move. Snowy stood her ground as best as possible refusing to be intimidated by a common street cat.

When the Digivice flashed again, the stray cat sniffed at curiously as to what it was. Snowy let out warning growls as her fur began to stand up on end. Without warning, the stray cat seized it in its mouth and ran off through the alley and down the street.

Viximon was almost knocked over when a grey and black cat came zipping across her path. She blinked her eyes when she swore she could see the Digivice in its mouth.

"HEY!" Viximon yelped indignantly as Snowy yowled furiously from the alley and scrambled after the thief.

That was HER Dani's toy - and there was no way she was going to let some upstart steal it!

"Wait for me!" Viximon called when she came back to her senses.

Snowy yowled angrily against as the great and black cat ducked onto a nearby pier, the Digivice in its mouth.

"H-hey!" Viximon panted. "Slow down! You've got longer legs than I do!" she almost stumbled more than once but forced to keep herself to regain balance and chase after them. "Where in the world is Akasha?"

Akasha was getting antsy. Snowy never took this long to get here. What could be going on? Taking matters into her own paws, Akasha ran back to where she left Snowy originally.

With a hiss, Snowy leapt into a nearby truck and glared at the thief. The last thing Akasha saw was the white fur ball jumping into the back on the truck when she finally neared the pier. Wasting no time, Akasha followed her feline friend. Inside, the thief just narrowed his eyes at Snowy coolly before looking up, without Snowy's knowledge, Akasha stood behind her baring her teeth at the stray cat. Not wanting to deal with the husky, he leapt out the truck's windows. Akasha jumped out of the truck ready to go after the stray.

Snowy blinked in confusion before sighing in relief as the Digivice lay there on the ground. Her relief was short lived at the truck's back doors were slammed shut. "MEOWW!"

Akasha howled and whined running in a circle after the truck began to drive away. She didn't know what to do. Go after Snowy or stay and wait for Viximon.

Viximon yelped as she skidded to a halt, her eyes wide as the truck roared away. "Snow? Akasha?"

No sign of them…she cursed herself as she looked uneasily around the huge, dark apartment buildings that seemed to glare down at her.

Viximon's tail went between her legs as she whimpered. She didn't like to be alone in an unfamiliar world. She no longer knew how to find Victoria. She never should have gone with Akasha and Snowy in the first place. With all those creeps on the prowl being on her own was NOT good.

"GOTCHA!"

She let out a terrified yelp as a net slammed down around her before scooping her up. A man dressed in a khaki uniform and cap smiled triumphantly. "'Nother mutt of the street…"

Akasha could hear the whimpering from her location, Viximon was able to locate them, and now the question remained…where was she? Getting up and looking around, Akasha sniffed the area until a terrified yelp sounded in her ears.

Wasting no time, Akasha ran where the sound was louder and found Viximon trapped in a net held by a dog catcher. Growling in warning, Akasha ran behind the man and bit him on the butt. He let out a yelp of pain dropping Viximon in the process.

"You've got good timing," Viximon said shaking her head.

Akasha barked as she picked Viximon by the scruff of the neck. Now was not the time to delay, they needed to find the truck and Snowy.

It was definitely getting late in the night while the two continued to run through the streets. Viximon knew there was no sense in asking what they were doing and just trusted the husky. It took them another twenty minutes before coming to a truck pit stop. Sitting in the darkest area on the building was Snowy curled into a tight ball with the Digivice amidst her body.

She had her fill in the fun, now all she wanted to do was go home. Oh how she loathed being separated from Akasha and Viximon. They were her security blanket.

A loud growl sounded somewhere down the dark area. It was unfamiliar. She knew Akasha's growls, this was definitely a strangers. Standing up, Snowy looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings before laying eyes on a stray German Sheppard. Fear filled her now, one bite from him and she would be dead.

The German Sheppard growled again advancing upon her, this was his territory and he didn't share well. The new kitty would definitely be a good meal for him and that item it was trying to protect was now his as well.

Snowy let out a hiss, trying to be as strong as possible to the stray before her. Her life truly hung in the balance but she didn't care, she wanted to go home.

As soon as the stray was right in front of her, a familiar growl of Akasha sounded behind her in a warning to get away from the cat.

The stray eyed the husky for a moment debating on attacking her. The more the merrier, he would enjoy tearing into the little one. It wasn't until the Digivice went off again that the German Sheppard ran off scared.

"Oh Snowy, am I ever happy to see you," Viximon said nuzzling the cat.

Snowy let out a meow in response as Akasha picked up the Digivice in her mouth.

"No more running, I've had my fun for tonight, let's just go home…wherever home is," Viximon said uneasily. "Oh crap."

**A/N: Three lost animals, where or where could they ever be? Oh is Victoria ever going to be ****"****thrilled****"**** at this. For now the three need to find a way back home, but could there be more dangers lurking in the shadows?**


	50. Dark Plans

**A/N: I****'****m really glad all of you enjoyed the last chapter, thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Night****'****s oath, Trapped in a void of time and White Hunter for your reviews as always. As well to a huge thank you to my new subscribers, I****'****m sure you guys see this, greatly appreciative to your support.**

**Chapter 50**

**Dark Plans**

**Aug 1****st**** (11:30pm)**

Myotismon gave a small smirk as he neared his hideout. Although his night search went shorter than he expected, the fact that he now had a human slave made it all the more while. The boy, Constantine, stirred softly in his arms, the travel seemed to have lulled him to sleep, along with the initial bite he received, the endorphins in his body really put him out even with the pain in his leg.

'_For this wolf creature, he seems to be fighting every step of the way, but what exactly is he hiding? Better yet, whom is he hiding?__'_ Myotismon pondered as the sight of his hideout got closer.

Even though with the first bite, Myotismon learned as much as he could about the teenager; his age, family and his unique side. Something else he seemed to be blocking from his powers. No matter, in time the boy will talk. He didn't care how long it took; his curiosity in the wolf formed seemed to be getting to him as well.

Upon entering the building, immediately he felt something unfamiliar. Something did not seem right, even though none of his henchmen were presumed harmed. No matter, he would get to the bottom of it later. For night now, he had to place his 'slave' in a remote location. He was in luck with the lower section of the building that would work perfectly for a cell.

It didn't take long, however, before Kudamon, Phantomon, and DemiDevimon to head down to the hall toward him. The annoying bickering from his most loyal subjects rang inside his ears.

"I don't that…creature. What in the world allowed you to even suggest that?" DemiDevimon squawked.

"Do you truly think I would have let him in? I had no control over the initial thing. I felt as if he took over my body."

"The Master is not going to be thrilled to find that this creature is in his lair," Phantomon chided.

"Think I don't realize that? Honestly, you two weren't there."

"No, we just came in to see a strange person sitting on the master's throne."

"Care to elaborate more on that?" Myotismon replied coldly once the three were close to him.

The three stopped dead in their tracks and looked up at their Master, sweat dropping as fear overwhelmed them. They thought that perhaps there would be a little more time to plan things out and figure out a bullshit lie. For now, it was do or die; there was no chance of lying to him, or backing away.

His ice blue eyes narrowed down to slits as he waited impatiently for a response from the three. He was not a patient Digimon by any means. Constantine was lying crumbled at his feet, eyes shut in perfect sleep unaware of what was going on. Neither of his main henchmen was talking, they were getting squirmy and edgy.

"Well?" Myotismon growled.

"The thing is my lord," Kudamon piped up uneasily. "There is someone who wishes to speak with you. We…we're unsure of what his objective is master."

"How was it that he found about this place?"

That was when the three really gave each other uneasy looks, their eyes spoke the loudest. The three were tying to debate who the unlucky sap was to inform the master. Kudamon shot them a glare that spoke thousands that she already spoke enough and did not need to anger him further. DemiDevimon looked at the two and blinked, he didn't even WANT to even go there. Phantomon just stared in absolute horror at them; he was not in the mood to even touch on this subject. He wasn't the one to invite the person back there.

Myotismon rapped his fingers on the side of his thigh in obvious annoyance. How hard was it to even give an answer? If this kept up, the punishments would be severe. He was already planning their punishments for stalling as it was.

"The longer you stall, the severe the punishment, do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes my lord," the three replied with a bow.

Phantomon sighed and sent a deadly glare at the other two, silently warning them that they will be suffering a worse fate than death if he got yelled at or the blame be placed on him. "Apparently sir, SkullMeramon had an encounter with him earlier. By no means did he trust him my lord. Somehow or another he had done something to control him. Kudamon also had an encounter with the same problem."

"I shall deal with this personally. Phantomon!"

"Yes sir?" Phantomon visibly cringed.

"Take the child here and place him in a cell out of the way, I will be dealing with him later."

"Yes sir," Phantomon bowed before going over to the still unconscious boy and picked him up as Myotismon moved down the hall.

"Kudamon, show me to him."

With a quick bow Kudamon led the way down the hall leaving a confused and questioning DemiDevimon and Phantomon. Shrugging his wings, DemiDevimon stared at the boy.

"I am not even going to ask."

"Well, you can at least help me, the child isn't exactly light."

DemiDevimon almost turned to him to tell him to go to DigiHell and that it was his idea, but the glaring eyes of Phantomon spoke volumes as he held his scythe not two inches from the bats face.

"Helping…helping."

Kudamon reached the medium size room where the older man was sitting and waiting relatively patient for the return of Myotismon. A few Digimon were standing by the door wanting to get a look at the man that could easily waltz into the lair.

"Don't any of you have something else you all could be doing right now?" Myotismon's voice boomed as an annoyance vein popped on the side of his head glaring at his army.

Turning their heads to the sound of their master's voice, stutters and other non-audible words escaped their mouths as they scattered from the area.

Kudamon rolled her eyes at the incompetence fools before them. Surely they know better than to piss off their master. Now was not the time to stand around and gawk at the mysterious man. They needed to be out searching for their retched tenth child. Although; it did cross her mind of the boy her master brought back. Was it possible that he was the tenth child after all? But why bring him back? Torture maybe? He did say before leaving that he would kill him. Perhaps he would torture him first before killing him. An involuntary shudder escaped her making her fur stand on end.

Myotismon saw the reaction she had so desperately tried to suppress and smirked. He knew any and all his feedings and killings of prey got to her. He enjoyed watching her squirm in discomfort and got a kick from it. Only once before did he threaten to feed off of her if she misbehaved. It only took that once for her to never cross him. Wizardmon on the other hand was a different story. He indeed possessed sweet blood, especially when fear overwhelmed him.

Opening the door, Kudamon kept her head low as she let her master move past her. There was no denying it, there sitting so pristine was an older man. Vlad finally looked up from the book he currently was reading. It wasn't English or Japanese for that matter, it was an ancient language from the Digital World. The book was leather bond with gold lettering on it. It was the book Myotismon himself was reading back in the Digital World.

An annoyed look filled his features, not only was someone near his belongings, but they were in the hands of a filthy wretched human. There was definitely going to be hell to pay. With or without the full explanation. Myotismon was definitely not in the greatest of moods as of right now. Storming inside the room, Myotismon glared at the man sizing him up. The man before him had blue skin, nowhere near matching his own, black hair in horn style with a black goatee and a white suit and cape with red on the inside.

Vlad smirked at the man…no Digimon, he reminded himself, before him. He could see the scowl forming on his face. Out of all the ghosts and humans he met, Myotismon was definitely the most unique. He wore a blue outfit with a gold bat clip in the front, obviously to keep the cape together. A red bat wing like mask donned his face.

"Who do you think you are coming in here?" the vampire Digimon growled.

"Is that anyway to greet your guests? I thought you would have a little more class," the vampire ghost commented, a cold smirk on his lips.

"You have two seconds to tell me who you are or my bats will have something to feast upon."

While Myotismon stood glaring at him coldly, Vlad, for the first time realized the red eyes along the ceiling and the high pitch screeches. There must have been hundred. No matter, this didn't bother Vlad; no blood suckers could hurt him.

"Well?" Myotismon said sharply.

"My, my, where are my manners. Standing here giving you a lecture of having no class and here I am being rude. I am Vlad Plasmius," the vampire ghost said with a slight bow.

Myotismon just eyed him a moment truly trying to figure out if the person in front of him was for real or not. Did he have a death wish or was he there to kill him? What the hell was his purpose? Oh how the thoughts just circled in his mind.

"What is your purpose here?"

"To strike a deal with you."

"Excuse me? Deal? Give me one good reason why I should I have a deal with you?"

"I can make it worth your while," Vlad simply said, a grin appeared on his face as he crossed his arms.

The vampire Digimon eyed the stranger with full disdain. Even at first meeting, Myotismon wasn't overly thrilled with him. There was also something in his voice, what could it be? And what could he possibly mean; he could make it worth his while?

"Such as what?" Myotismon asked not moving from his spot as he eyed the man before him.

Vlad grinned as he raised his hand, palm facing the ceiling in a very relaxed manner. "You're looking for someone, am I correct? That's why you have all those cre…Digimon scouring the city with that little trinket around their necks."

Myotismon kept a tight lip line as he kept staring at the man. So he did have an idea, but what was he getting at? "What about it?"

"What exactly is the purpose for the search? Is it someone you want to find to use for your own personal gain or are you searching for the person for your reasons?"

"To be forever persistent on asking these questions, I suppose there is no other way around it all. Although, I do pose one question out of all this. What is your purpose in knowing the truth?"

"If you reveal your secret, I'll reveal mine," Vlad replied with a grin.

Annoyance veins appeared on Myotismon's temple at hearing Vlad's secretive tone. After what seemed like an eternity, he closed the gap between the two of them, he wanted to be up close and personal. Besides, he thought. If there is any funny business, he could easily take him out.

Vlad saw the opportunity while Myotismon remained quiet to go intangible and overshadow him, hopefully to make the Digimon before him to easily agree with him on everything and reveal his secrets. The other two were so easy to manipulate, Vlad was positive that Myotismon would be the same. Just as he went to overshadow the vampire Digimon, Myotismon seemed to sense something to wrong and narrowed his eyes. He wasn't thrilled that the man before him disappeared without a trace.

"If you think I'm that easy to take over, you are sadly mistaken. Remove yourself from my body or I will rip you apart."

Vlad complied with no hesitation knowing that the Digimon was no kidding around when it came to something like that. What got to him was how exactly he knew that he was being overshadowed? Most of his victims were clueless to that even happening.

"If it means that much to you to know the truth, fine. Just remember, backstab me or my army and you will be dead before you knew what hit you," Myotismon warned. "And try that ever again you will never see the light of day ever again." Vlad nodded in agreement taking a seat once again on the chair while Myotismon stood before.

"I already assume you know what Digimon are so I don't really have to tell you that portion. As for what is going on here is simple. I am on a mission to become the ruler of both the Digital World as well as the human world. The one thing that stands between me and my goal are the Digidestineds. They have proven time and time again to be a thorn in my side. There has been word that a tenth Digidestined is in this world and I refuse to have my goal tarnished by a mere human child."

"If I may ask, do we have a name for this tenth child?"

"It is unclear of the identity of the human. That is why I have my henchmen out there scouring every area of the city."

"What about the Digidestineds themselves?" Vlad asked getting use to the terms being used.

"This maybe the area that you might be able to help. That is IF you are apart of this city. The names I seek are Yumi, Victoria, Tora, James, Kiva, Mark, Kisho, Yukito and Robert. Don't be fooled by the mere factor of their ages. They are not to be contended with."

"Ah yes, I have heard of the names of Yumi and Victoria. Victoria has a connection to me that can be used as an advantage."

"Family ties? Hmm. That won't be the first. Now that I revealed my secret. It is time to reveal yours."

"All is fair here. I am what you would call a halfa, half ghost, have human, but with the best powers of all the ghosts," Vlad said as a black ring formed around his torso and moved over his body revealing his human side. Vlad Masters now wearing a black tux, his grey hair pulled back into a low ponytail and a grey goatee. "I have strong connections with the ghost zone. That is another dimension to the Earth. Letting you know right now, the place has already been spoken for, although there have been upraises now and again. That is besides the point.

"My goal is much like yours, but instead of the Digital World, the ghost zone is my target. Now there is another purpose to all this that will in the future. I am searching for my daughter known as Danielle. She is also a half ghost; her powers have been growing over the years making her stronger in the process. She was taken from me by my ex-wife and sent here years ago.

"I believe that by working together our goals can be met. I am sure that there will be ghosts that would be willing to help, if I have anything to say about it. Believe me; you will not have any concerns over the ghosts."

"Now remind me again, why I should trust you? Who is to say that you will not betray me?"

"You just have to wait and find out. Now, do we have a deal?" Vlad asked extending his arm out waiting for Myotismon to accept. What neither one of them knew was that the other was just as stubborn and possessed a vital threat. In each others minds a cruel, wicked plan was formulation at a last ditch effort to betray the other.

Smirking, Myotismon took Vlad's hand into his and gave it a quick, firm shake. Their eyes locked on to one another for some time. Vlad now remained in his human form not wanting to keep any secrets or hide anything else.

"Kudamon, come here!" Myotismon called turning from Vlad.

The white fox hesitantly stepped foot into the room and bowed before Myotismon. She could barely maintain eye contact with him for too long. Vlad applauded this Digimon for maintaining a strong presence over his subjects.

"Yes my lord?"

"I have a job for you. I want you to find a place for Vlad. He will be assisting us on the search."

"I…yes my lord."

"After, I expect you, DemiDevimon and Phantomon to be out on the streets searching for a new location."

"Yes my lord." Her voice held timid and a sense of giving up. She didn't seem overly thrilled to be going through with any of these requests.

**A/N: So after a few weeks of getting my brain to settle down, I give you chapter 50. Merely talking, but it****'****s a little better than two chapters ago. Yes, I****'****ve taken Myotismon out of character but that seemed to be the only way for this to go through about revealing plans. I also had to re-look at some of the chapter outlines and have to change them around. I am hoping I can at least get a few chapters up before next week when I go to Anime North. I****'****ll be gone for four days but I promise I****'****ll have something up. Oh and if some of you remembering me telling you that I would be going as Wizardmon? Change of plans, things didn****'****t go right.**


	51. Missing In Action

**A/N: Thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Night****'****s Oath, White Hunter and Trapped in a void of time for your awesome reviews as well as your patience. Night****'****s Oath, I promise more updates. So here is the next chapter. Enjoy ^_^**

**Chapter 51**

**Missing in Action**

**August 2****nd**** (Midnight)**

Night continued to make her presence known as the stars kept up their twinkling in the velvet sky. It had been hours since Victoria, Ember, Johnny, Dani and Youngblood fell into a deep slumber for the evening. It also had been hours since Viximon, Akasha and Snowy went on their wild late night excursions. None of the residents in the apartment held any knowledge of their escapees.

Silence still rang out in the bedroom as the Digivice next to Victoria's head beeped midnight. The chime never stirred the sleeping ones at all. Snoring however could easily be heard clearly from Dani on the top bunk.

Victoria was so out of it she didn't even noticed the empty spot next to her. Her dreams consumed most of her thoughts, forcing her to stay asleep. Most of the images filling her head were that of randomness, to memories of her childhood. Some that she didn't expect were of the adventures in the Digital World. Only, there were parts that didn't look familiar or the new looking Digimon.

~Dream~

Victoria could hear the calls from the other Digidestineds in all different locations. At first, she didn't seem like she was in danger or anything, but as she looked around at her surroundings, a very disturbing image came to her. Renamon was nowhere to be found. When she went to open her mouth and call out to her, no sound came out. Horrified, she made to the area her friends were waiting.

"Victoria, what are you waiting for? We have to get moving. There's no time to lose," a very familiar voice sounded. Blinking her eyes, Victoria's mouth dropped open. Dani stood before her, hand stretched out with Yumi to the right of her.

"This is no time to be gawking. We need to go! They're coming!" Dani urged grabbing Victoria's hand.

Victoria couldn't even say anything; it felt as if her mouth was sewn shut. Not even her brain was working, her body felt stiff. Why wasn't anyone telling her what was going on where Renamon was.

"Renamon…Renamon!" Victoria finally spit out after Dani pulled her through the forest in the Digital World. She was still in confusion as to what was going on. This wasn't the Digital World she knew and why exactly was Dani in the Digi World? What the hell was going on? And where was that loud roar coming from?

"Victoria, not now! Don't you remember she was going to go ahead of us?"

"What? I don't understand…someone…please…"

A bright blast of light appeared behind them, a loud gasp escaping her as she went to protect her cousin.

"RENAMON!"

~End Dream~

"RENAMON!" Victoria screamed sitting up in a cold sweat, her heart racing a mile a minute as her breathing quickened. Her vision was momentarily blurred as her surroundings slowly came back to her.

"Dream, it was just a dream," she reassured herself calming herself fully resting into her pillows. Sighing again, she reached her hand out to scratch Viximon's ears at Victoria's side, where she normally slept. Victoria's eyes widened in horror when her fingers touched air.

"The hell? Viximon?"

Victoria sat up cautiously not needing to smack her head against the top bunk and yanked up the sheets in hopes that she would be underneath. Nothing. A sickening feeling hit her stomach at the sight. Scrambling out of bed kneel beside the bottom bunk, Victoria ducked her head to check. Again nothing. A sickening feeling came over her now. Thinking quickly, Victoria bolted from the bedroom to go to the kitchen and searched through al the cupboards thinking she would want a late night snack. Once more…nada.

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!" Victoria panicked staying on her knees trying to ease her mind.

Not realizing right away that Akasha hadn't run to her side yet or the small bell around Snowy's neck wasn't sounding. Victoria stood up again and ran back to her bedroom to look through the closet. With that area completely clear, Victoria felt her heart sink.

"Oh CRAP!"

"Victoria, what is going on?" Ember asked sitting up on the make shift bed.

"Viximon is gone! I can't locate her anywhere," Victoria gasped turning around.

"Okay, breathe, where could a yellow ball of fur go to?" Ember asked fazing from the beanbag bed and stood by her side.

"I have no clue, she was here last night. She wouldn't know where to go or how to get out."

"All right, before you go on a panic blind search, calm down, deep breaths and let's go check the living room."

Victoria was about to argue with the ghost but was stopped when Ember's finger was raised to her lips. Letting out a sigh, Victoria turned on her heel and stormed out of the room and into the living room.

"Okay, it shouldn't take long to loc-"

"Where the hell is Akasha and Snowy?" Victoria shrieked noticing the empty dog and cat bed by the window.

"This cannot be good."

"What is going on?" Youngblood groaned rubbing his eyes as he floated by the doorframe. "It's midnight…"

"VIXIMON, AKASHA and SNOWY ARE MISSING!" Ember and Victoria hissed. The look on Victoria's face was that of horrific terror.

"Huh?" Youngblood blinked his eyes in confusion. "I let them out hours ago."

Victoria froze in complete horror, her breath caught in her throat as a murderous glare filled her eyes. "You did WHAT?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know, I swear."

Victoria looked like she was ready to go on a murderous rampage. Youngblood yelped as he went intangible knowing he was in big trouble. Ember intervened with the now furious teen.

"He isn't worth it Tori, right now we'll go search. Go get dressed and we will leave!"

"I'M GOING TO MURDER HIM!"

Going back into the bedroom, Victoria grabbed her clothes from the other day and slipped them on as fast as she could. Tension filled the air where one could cut it with a knife it was that thick. Ember herself knew that uttering anything to Victoria was ultimately suicidal and could lead to pain. Although Victoria appeared young, she was quite strong when tempered.

Although midnight was now upon the world, Kiva was far too restless to even think about sleep. For hours, Kiva and Puppymon sat on her bed looking at maps of the city trying to figure the locations to search for in the morning.

Even though exhaustion was taking over them, neither one wanted to fall asleep. The smell of cigarette smoke filled the air causing the two to have problems breathing. Ai was nowhere near ready to fall asleep and smoking seemed to be a favourite of hers.

"She really needs to rethink smoking outside. The fumes are intoxicating," coughed Pupmon burying his head into his paws.

'_I agree with you wholeheartedly but she is too stubborn to care,__'_Kiva replied bitterly.

Pupmon groaned as he stared tiredly at the map, his head swimming from no sleep, cigarette fumes and the growing headache that refused to go away. More than once he fought to keep his eyes open.

Kiva noticed the struggle her Digimon was giving to keep awake. She didn't blame him for wanting to crash, although she did regret bringing him into the window.

'_Come on, let__'__s go get some air, the cool air will help,__'_Kiva suggested motioning toward the window.

Pupmon lifted his head up weakly and gazed through the lavender colour shades out into the star filled sky. His eyes widened with delight at the thought of being outdoors again. Kiva couldn't help but notice the look and gave a soft grin. Both knew it would be beneficial to leave the confides of the room.

Gathering up the maps, Kiva swung her legs off the bed and stood up stretching her arms over her head. Pupmon jumped off and stood next to her stretching out his limbs. For two hours the two stayed in the same position not bothering to shift. Moving toward the window, Kiva unlatched the lock and opened the window as wide as it could leading to the balcony.

With the window open leading to their freedom, Pupmon hopped on to the bedside table and leapt on to the ledge then on the balcony. Kiva followed shortly after with some pillows and the maps. This was her gateway from the problems within the apartment. Setting up their little spot, Kiva rested against the wall with her knees drawn to her chest with Pupmon sitting in front of her.

'_Pupmon, I want to know, are you okay with being in this apartment?__'_

Pupmon tilted his head to the side trying to figure out Kiva's meaning. "What do you mean 'am I okay with being in the apartment?' Kiva as long as I am by your side I am fine anywhere. Are you trying to get rid of me or something?"

'_No, its not that, we__'__ve seen it already with my mother. I__'__m concerned for you with your health. The smoking can__'__t be good with your system.__'_

"Even if I did have a problem, who is to say that I won't be overly concerned with your health? Kiva, regardless, I'm stuck with you."

'_I__'__ve dealt with her longer, I__'__m pretty sure the second hand smoke is already in my system and attacking the good cells or whatever.__'_

"That's still no reason for not caring about yourself. But why are you asking if I'm okay in the apartment?"

'_I have seen how you__'__ve been and thought perhaps you would want to get a change of scenery, especially since my mom doesn__'__t really like dogs it would be wise.__'_

"Well it's up to you, I do agree with you although on that."

'_Is there any particular place you want to crash?__'_

"Victoria!" Pupmon answered right away with no hesitation.

'_You just want to be with Viximon, don__'__t you?__'_

Pupmon blushed a bit shaking his head, he wanted to bury his head into the ground and disappear.

Kiva grinned knowing she had made him embarrassed, which was usually difficult to do.

While the two sat out there for another little bit, just relaxing in each others company and enjoying the cool summer air; a beeping noise sounded from Kiva's side pocket. Blinking, Kiva pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the rapid beeping screen. An amber dot was running down the street on the map with a red dot chasing after it. The usual coloured dot belonging to the amber dot was nowhere to be found.

"Kiva, what is it?"

'_I think there might be some trouble going on.__'_

"What do you mean?"

'_There is a Digimon on its own belonging to the group and their partner is nowhere to be found.__'_

"Do you know which one it is?"

'_No and that__'__s the annoying part. There__'__s also an evil Digimon after whoever it is.__'_

"We have to help them."

'_Pupmon__…'_

"I think we are the only ones awake, they need us."

The beeping grew louder as the dot got further and further. Not taking the chance any longer, the two climbed back into the bedroom and snuck out the front door.

Viximon's breath was quickening with each step she took. The panting was strong between her and Akasha as they ran top speed while another Digimon chased after them. Snowy had managed to get herself further ahead of them after being scared out of her mind. The buzzing sound from the enemies wings were increasing each time.

Behind them was a yellow and black stripped gigantic wasp with an attitude to boot. Its lower body was greater than the rest of him. He did not seem overly amused to have to chase his prey across half the city.

"Waspmon is a Cyborg Digimon; those feelers on his head allow him to search those approaching them and can attack quickly. The strong laser guns on his tail can fire in any direction, top and bottom. His special attack is "Turbo Stinger", which blazes away at larger Digimon with his large laser gun," analyzed Viximon.

"We never should have left the apartment. We should have stayed where we were. Victoria is going to lose it," Viximon moaned trying her hardest to avoid Waspmon.

Akasha gave a bark in agreement as she ran down a nearby alley. She didn't like the fact that there was a strange creature chasing them. It was something that even she couldn't attack like most her prey. She witnessed Viximon send out a few attacks but nothing that could defeat it.

There was no losing the Digimon, Viximon knew that the only thing she didn't like about it was that she couldn't Digivolve to protect her friends. All three were defenceless. This was a strong Champion, perhaps in her Rookie form she could do some damage, obviously not now, not without Victoria.

"There is no use running, you can't escape me or my master. Just give up," Waspmon hissed.

"He's right, but I can't give up now," Viximon thought bitterly. "I will never let you take us. Besides the other two have nothing to do with this. Leave them out of it!"

"In that case! They will be the first to die."

"NO!" Viximon screamed. "Akasha, find Snowy and get out of here!" she ordered hoping the husky would understand.

Akasha cocked her head to the side confused, why did she want her to leave her behind? The only answer that was given was the laser guns charging up again ready to blast them. Taking the hint, Akasha took off hoping Viximon would be okay.

Viximon let out a sigh of relief as she went to hide behind a garbage bin hoping to avoid much of the impact as possible. The shot hit the bin nearly pinning Viximon, killing her. She had no place to run; the creep would be after her until she was killed.

"Victoria, I need you!" Viximon whimpered as she tried to protect herself.

"Viximon…Akasha…Snowy…Viximon!" Victoria called out for what seemed the thousandth time that night. Her voice rang up and down the deserted alleyway. Panic was setting in the more she and Ember were running down unfamiliar areas.

The two had vacated the apartment forty five minutes prior, Ember opting to transport the two out of the room over going out the front door. She also had to step in between Victoria and Youngblood when the pirate ghost opened his mouth at the wrong time.

Like the last forty five mutes of screaming, there was still no answering barks, yips, yowls, howls or screeches. "Those three have to be around here somewhere!" Victoria growled, still furious at the carelessness. Ember ran a hand through her hair in frustration as the two finally reached the end of the passage and next to the highway again before cupping her hands over her mouth again. "VIXIMON!"

Even after being in the air for a good chunk of the search the rocker still came up empty handed. She could feel the stress, anxiety, regret and upset radiating off Victoria as if it were physical. The sad part Ember was finding, there was nothing she could possibly do about it. She couldn't console the young teen due to the fear of the quick change of emotions.

"Can you hear us?" Victoria called thinking that the three were in a place that was difficult to respond. "Answer us!"

Her throat burned slightly as the horrible realizations kicked in of what could possibly cause the three not to respond. The worst of them all was that they couldn't due to being captured or killed. A single tear fell down her cheek at the thought. No, she couldn't think that way. Her babies were going to return to her safely.

Ember felt her throat tighten as a lump began to form. She felt for the girl. To say the least that was a first for her, knowing that normally she would have laughed at others pain. She could careless about others, but she grew close to the Goth girl.

"Hey…are you okay?" Ember asked landing next to Victoria but keeping a safe distance, afraid that she might turn on her.

"I'm…fine," Victoria hissed shaking her hair angrily. "I'm going to KILL Youngblood when I get home for being so irresponsible. Viximon is going to have an ear full for running off!"

"So I take it that Akasha and Snowy have taken off in the past?"

"Yes and no. Usually just to the park or something. Never like this."

"I'm sure these fine, they are all together…what's the worse that could happen?"

Big mistake.

Victoria narrowed her eyes and glared at her, taking a step forward. "Do I REALLY need to spell it out for you?"

"Er…"

"ONE-The three could get hit by a car! - TWO - Two out of the three could get eaten by some rabid dog! THREE-Some twerp with sticky, jammy hands might decide to make off with either of them! And FOUR-if Myotismon or his creeps find Viximon first…they'll rip her apart!"

"All right already!" Ember snapped, putting her hands up defensively. "I get it! Don't worry; I'm sure we'll…huh?"

Victoria's eyes widened as her Digivice started flashing. "…what the hell? Is it her?" She did a pat down as she made a grab for it. "Please, please, PLEASE!"

Ember literally reached out and grabbed hold of Victoria's wrist before the other's fingers touched the Digivice. "I mean it. Calm down!"

With a huff, Victoria crossed her arms and looked the other way. She took a few deep breaths to get rid of the stress. Feeling the calm, Ember stepped back to allow Victoria to grab the Digivice and look at the screen.

"That's funny…" Victoria murmured, looking where a black dot was heading their way.

"What is it, Tori?" Ember asked curiously.

"Kiva is making her way toward us as we speak," Victoria responded dumbfounded.

"Kiva? Wonder what she is doing out here?"

Victoria shook her head unsure, there were so many questions plaguing her head that this took the cake. "I wish I knew. None of this makes sense to me anymore."

Running footsteps got closer to the pain causing the girls to turn their heads to see Kiva running to them. "There was something different about this particular picture…Pupmon was nowhere to be seen.

**Kiva: Victoria, what is going on?**

"Viximon, Akasha and Snowy ran off and I don't know where they could be, if they're still alive or if something bad happened," Victoria explained.

**Kiva: I****'****m sure we can find them.** She reassured.

"Now the question for you is why Pupmon isn't with you?" Victoria asked raising an eyebrow.

**Kiva: As soon as we saw who was out there, Pupmon wanted to investigate the Digimon situation to see if he could help. I on the other hand, went to find you to make sure everything were okay. Now I can see that it****'****s not.**

"Digimon situation?"

**Kiva: There was an evil Digimon after one of our Digimon. Sadly, it****'****s Viximon that has to deal with him.**

Victoria stared wide eyed at her friend as Ember face palmed at the news. She had just calmed her friend down; this was going to make it even worse. It was definitely going to be a LONG night.

"WHAT WAY DID THEY GO?!" Victoria yelled startling Kiva.

Blinking, Kiva cocked her head to the side as she looked at Ember raising an eyebrow.

**Kiva: Did****…****did I miss something?**

"She's been on mixed emotions, welcome to anger."

**Kiva: Explains a lot. Victoria. Listen to me. Deep breaths. We are going to find them.**

Wolfmon charged down the streets in the general direction that Kiva told him was the direction the amber dot was in. He had no clue who it was and had only one indication. However, when the Digivice went off again, Kiva's eyes widened, a midnight blue dot and a firebrick red dot were on the run further down the street. An uneasy feeling overcame the two at who might be the unknown Digimon.

The two had been strolling down the streets, aimlessly heading down different side streets after leaving the apartment. The only problem they were experiencing with this late night adventure was the inconsistent area that was the mystery dot. A look of defeat was on their faces with each dark empty alley. This was becoming quite irksome really fast. One minute the dot would single that it was close by, when the two went to investigate the area. Nothing.

"Are we sure we are not following a phantom dot here? All this chasing is coming rather pointless," Pupmon groaned.

'_You are the one that wanted to come out in the first place you know.__'_

"If I knew it would have been a wild goose chase I would have declined."

'_Don__'__t complain Pupmon, just accept it.__'_

"You are such a great partner, right," Pupmon rolled his eyes.

'_You truly want to go down that path?__'_Kiva insisted a smirk filling her features.

Pupmon grinned and leapt into her arms, he was so appreciative of the type of relationship the two possessed.

The beeping sounded once more from Kiva's pocket. Hopefully it was a sign that the Digimon was close by. Jumping from Kiva's arms, he looked up at her expectantly. Her expression turned into that of pure shock and horror. Raising an eyebrow and cocking his head to the side, Pupmon stared at her confused.

"Kiva, what is it?"

'_There might be a possibility that the unknown Digimon is Viximon,__'_Kiva gulped.

"Don't be joking around like this. How do you know?"

'_Victoria__'__s dot and one of the ghosts is flashing and there is no Digimon with her.__'_

Pupmon felt his heart race with anxiety as he began to look around thinking that Viximon would show up at any moment. He was growing hysterical and Kiva could sense it.

'_Pupmon, calm down right now.__'_

"Where is it? Where is the amber dot?"

'_You are not going off on your own!__'_

"Kiva, I don't care, just tell me where it is," growled Pupmon impatiently.

Kiva merely glared at him, completely and utterly shocked that her Digimon would resort to growling at her. Golden brown eyes glared at silver eyes. It was an intense moment to say the least. If anyone were to cross their path they would feel the intensity.

Neither one broke eye contact for a good five minutes, their stubbornness getting in the way of allowing the other to win. It wasn't until Kiva let out an annoyed sigh and dropped her gaze to the device in her hand.

'If you are calm and willing to listen. Viximon is in that direction,' Kiva pointed in the left direction, eyes never leaving the Digivice. 'She has a good head start on us. If we leave now, I am sure we will be able to catch up to her.'

"Make me Digivolve!"

'_What?__'_

"Make me Digivolve! If something were to happen, I'll be able to do more damage in my champion form!"

Kiva let out a sigh. _'__Fine, let__'__s go!__'_

"Pupmon Digivolve to…Puppymon!"

"Puppymon Digivolve to…Wolfmon!"

'_Listen to me, go and meet up with Viximon and make sure she is okay. I am going to try and find Victoria.__'_

"Good luck."

'_You too.__'_

The two had taken off in different directions, Kiva relying on her Digivice while Wolfmon went on by what Kiva told him.

Wolfmon was completely terrified by the time he got to one of the alleyways. He didn't want to lose Viximon in anyway. He would never forgive whoever harmed her; they would regret their decisions big time and suffer the consequences.

Viximon whimpered as she ran for her life after jumping into another alleyway. She lost sight of Akasha and Snowy and now she truly was alone. No matter how many area she hid and run, Waspmon would never leave her sight.

All she had to do was find a small hole that she could fit into and hide from the Digimon. The only downside to that was what lay in wait in one of the holes.

'_You are about to get killed by your enemy and you are concerned with rats and spiders?__'_she scolded herself narrowly missing a blast.

"You are not getting away from me that easily," Waspmon buzzed angrily.

"Well, I'm not giving you the satisfaction of winning."

"Where is your partner now? She seems to not care about you."

"That is not true. She is probably out there right now looking for me!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

Viximon managed to back herself into a dead end, the brick wall now her prison. She had nowhere to go. Without Victoria she was powerless. Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did she have to go off in an unknown city and get into this situation?

"Nowhere for you to run now!"

'_I__'__m dead! I__'__m dead, I__'__m dead, I__'__m dead!__'_

"Turbo Stinger!"

"Oh shit!" Viximon quickly saw a small opening, enough for her to get through and be completely safe. The bright light from the attack shot toward the now abandoned wall. Bricks and other debris came flying in every direction causing dust to rise in the process. Viximon managed to get herself as far away as possible from the attack, allowing her another day of survival.

"Hahaha, that's one down. The master will be happy to know that another Digidestined is down a Digimon."

"Power Metal!" an unknown voice shouted from the shadows. A giant sized iron ball came barrelling through the air and hitting Waspmon shattering him into tiny bits. "No one and I mean no one harms my friends and gets away with it."

Wolfmon charged down the streets, now having the scent of the enemy. He wasn't far now, but where exactly that bastard was with Viximon was unclear to him, he needed to keep his wits about him and hoping to find Viximon safe and sound. He tired of the cat and mouse games and just wanted his little yellow fox back safely.

'_I__'__m going to tear into you. I swear. You have no right to harm my friends and those I love!__'_ he seethed as he hit the pavement hard.

Where the scent seemed to be the strongest, now became the weakest the closest he came to the area. Viximon's scent was even gone. How was that possible? He swore he had them this time. As his anger began to build up again, something peculiar crossed his line of vision as a purple and black stripped tail disappeared back into the shadows. His anger ebbed away, only to be replaced with confusion.

"Am I seeing things?"

"We have been searching for hours and there is no sign of them," Victoria groaned rubbing the back of her neck. Her yes were becoming extremely drowsy to the point she could no longer keep them open. Not even the cool air could keep her awake as it once did.

**Kiva: We have to keep trying for Viximon****'****s sake.**

"Kiva is right. We can't just give up now," Ember replied. Unlike the other two, Ember never grew tired. She could stay up for hours. Seeing the other two however, she began to have sympathy for them. Even Kiva, who could usually last all night, was on the last string.

"We have searched half the city. We can't even function anymore," Victoria replied with a yawn.

**Kiva: Until we locate Wolfmon, I don****'****t want to give up.**

"Has there been no sign of him on the Digivice?"

**Kiva: He is too far out for me to even tell.**

With that the three crumpled on to the grass and sat there for a bit trying to force themselves to wake up and keep moving.

Sitting down was a bad idea for Victoria, with the exhaustion hitting her so hard she didn't know if she could actually stay awake much longer. She stretched her arms high above her hoping to have something alert.

Kiva merely stared blankly ahead in no particular place. She was so out of it that the physical world no longer seemed real to her anymore.

Ember blinked at the two, now worried that the two would fall asleep where they sat. "Earth to Victoria and Kiva. Snap out of it."

"So sleepy."

"I know, but come on; the more we move the more we'll be able to keep awake."

Grumbling and struggling the two teens got to their feet with a slight sway and stared annoyed at Ember.

"Step one is complete, now just put one foot in front of the other and we are on the move."

Victoria in her sleep deprived mind giggled insanely. "I just envisioned you singing that song."

"Oh yeah, you are going to crash easily when we get home," Ember sighed.

The three continued along the path for some time, Ember between the two just in case of them passing out.

It didn't take long before Wolfmon came bounding toward them, a sight for sore eyes to say the least. The only problem that remained was that Viximon, Snowy or Akasha were not with him.

"There you three are, I've been looking everywhere for you," Wolfmon panted.

"Wolfmon, were you able to find Viximon?" Victoria asked hopeful.

"Sadly no, her scent and the scent belonging to the evil Digimon vanished."

"Now what?" Ember asked.

Victoria let out a sigh as she looked up at the sky. "We need to get home before Mom finds out we're gone and freaks."

"A wise idea."

Ember raised an eyebrow. "…You know how to get back from here?"

"…Not…exactly?…" Victoria admitted looking around at the unfamiliar area they currently occupied. Truthfully, she had no clue where they were.

"That's what I was afraid of…come on, let's start walking…" Ember suggested.

Victoria and Kiva let out tired grumbles in agreement as they dragged their feet down the street. Wolfmon had offered to give them a ride on his back fearing they would black out right there and then.

"Hey Victoria, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Do you think it would be possible to allow Wolfmon to stay with you?"

"Everything okay?" Victoria asked thinking something bad was happening.

"Yeah, it's just…mom doesn't like pets and I am unsure what she would do if she were to see him," Kiva half lied. It was true though, her mother wasn't keen on animals. The only thing was she left out the vital part of the home situation. The smoking that bothered Wolfmon more than it did her, the uncertainty at what her mother was capable of.

Victoria never questioned any further of what was wrong, she believed what her friend said was true and left it. "Of course. Wolfmon, you sure you are okay with crashing with me?"

"I actually suggested staying with you," Wolfmon admitted.

"There, that's settled, let's head home and hope that tomorrow goes a little bit better."

Along the way, Victoria, Wolfmon and Ember dropped Kiva off at her apartment before continuing on to their own apartment twenty blocks away. Travelling became easier with riding on Wolfmon's back, Victoria was able to actually rest a little bit.

"I really hope we are able to find Viximon and your pets."

Victoria opened her mouth to say something, but, something caught her eye. "Huh?"

"What is it?"

She was staring down at her Digivice in disbelief, a rosy brown dot on the screen was flashing. "The…the tenth child!"

"WHAT?"

Victoria glanced anxiously from side to side, gritting her teeth in frustration as she glanced back down at the quickly disappearing signal. "If we don't move now…we're gonna lose him!"

"Then come on!" Ember urged as Victoria held on tightly to Wolfmon as he picked up his speed. "We'll get back home later this matters more!"

"Right!"

None of the teens noticed the ever moving flashing Digivice in the darkness. Another wild goose chase was soon to be on their hands once more. The sight of the apartment now far behind them as they chased the phantom dot.

For the second time that night, with another hour passing them, and once again coming up empty handed; Victoria's apartment came into view after so long making Victoria let out a small cheer. Jumping off Wolfmon's back, the Champion Digimon de-Digivolved into his Rookie form and strolled by Victoria's feet. Ember, who was flying in the sky, landed next to them to walk with them.

"Home!"

Victoria groaned as the three of them stumbled back into the apartment deciding to go through the front door and up elevator rather than fly. "So…exhausted," she yawned.

"No kidding…" responded Ember. There were bags under Victoria's eyes and her hair was dishevelled more than usual Ember noticed for once.

"All that searching…" Victoria glared down at her Digivice. "And it was a stupid goose chase."

"We were close though…" Puppymon yawned. "What…time is it

Victoria's eyes widened as she glanced at the microwave clock to the left of them after grabbing a drink of water. The red numbers glowing strangely in the darkness. "Oh my gods…its 3:00! Shit, we need to get to bed! If mom finds out we snuck out, we're dead!"

Dumping the rest of the water into the sink, she headed back down the hall back towards her bedroom with Puppymon and Ember at her heels. It had been a long night and she desperately needed her sleep. Slipping back into her pyjamas and collapsed back into bed with a groan. Ember fell on to the make shift bed once more, automatically having arms wrapped around her. Puppymon let out a yawn as he collapsed on top of Victoria's stomach.

"I didn't tell you, I saw something when I got close to where Viximon was. I thought I saw something familiar," Puppymon whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw a tail that I swore looked like Dorugamon."

"That's impossible."

**Dun dun dun**

**A/N: So after months wait…thank you Night's Oath for your curiosity. So I finish this chapter off with a cliff hanger. Is it possible that a familiar Digimon is in the real world? Read more to find out. Oh and on a positive note, I have the entire chapters for each day figured out. Now all I have to do is write them. Some chapters may or may not have lyrics in them, just depends on the situation.**


	52. The search begins

**A/N: A huge thank you to San Child of the Wolves, Night's oath and White Hunter for you wonderful reviews and thank you to my new subscribers. So now that we are in July I really hope I can get more updates. Most of the parts during working on the chapter I was getting a tattoo done lol. **

**Chapter 52**

**The search begins**

**August 2 (7am)**

**Dark clouds slowly moved in on the once blue sky, the weather was changing rapidly, a lot more than it had the first day of being sent to the strange world. Everything seemed to have chanced a lot since than. The area that the group was currently stationed at was not one that any recalled.**

**Silence filled the air as the Digidestined rose from their crash. Saying they were a little disoriented was a complete misunderstanding. One by one everyone began to sit up, a sigh of relief filling them when familiar faces greeted them. Unlike the first time, the group landed in the same area and everyone was more awake.**

**"Where exactly are we?" Victoria asked groggily as she sat up cautiously.**

**"I believe it's the Digital World," replied Robert rubbing his head.**

**"If that's true, what area are we in? It doesn't look familiar to me," Tora asked.**

**"I can't be sure."**

**"Tori, stay here, I'm going to take a look around," Renamon explained placing a paw on her partner's shoulder.**

**"No, Renamon, don't go. It's not safe."**

**"Don't worry, I'm a big girl."**

**With that the fox Digimon was out of sight before Victoria could open her mouth. Red flags were going up in her head and she was unsure why. No one was going to deny that fact that Victoria was worried. Everyone was scared and didn't know what exactly was going on.**

**"She'll be back, you just have to trust her," Puppymon reassured sitting in front of her.**

**"I thought you would have gone after her."**

**"No sense going after someone who is off on their own search."**

**"Puppymon, that makes no sense."**

**"Just trust her that she will return. My responsibility is to make sure all of you are safe." His cryptic tone was getting on Victoria. Major confusion setting in. Looking around, Victoria did a quick head count and panic filled her.**

**"Where is Yumi?"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"Yumi is gone. She was right here and now she's gone!"**

**"Victoria, Victoria, breathe sweetie. You must have hit your head pretty hard. Yumi was going to check out the area. Sitting too long was making her edgy."**

**"No, no, Renamon said she was going to look around."**

**"Renamon said she was going to bring her back."**

**Victoria stared at the group dumbfounded, were they not hearing the conversation that was going on just moments ago? Her head spun now with so many thoughts. Perhaps she did hit her head. It still didn't explain why Yumi would go off on her own. Then it hit her, why would she go off without her Digimon?**

**Rumbling could be heard all around them as the Earth began to shake. This wasn't good, where was Renamon? What wasn't she back? Panic over took her as the others held tightly to their Digimon.**

**"RENAMON!" the Earth beneath them gave way sending the Digidestined into a black hole.**

~End Dream~

"RENAMON!" Victoria screamed as she sat up on the lower bunk. For the second time that morning, Victoria was faced with a nightmare relating to the Digital World and a missing Renamon. Breathing heavily, Victoria looked around the bedroom to find a slumbering Puppymon on her chest and two concerned ghosts sitting up on the beanbag chair.

"Victoria, are you okay?" Ember asked.

"Y-yeah, just a bad dream," Victoria admitted wiping the sweat from her forehead. She was completely soaked in sweat. Whatever that nightmare put her through, scared her to death. There was no sense asking where Viximon was, the few hours she did sleep came rushing back.

"I think someone is missing their partner," Puppymon yawned looking at her.

"We all are," she groaned flopping back on the bed. "I'm going to regret asking this…what time is it?"

"Pushing seven."

"Ugh," she made a pathetic fake whining noise as she gazed at the clock. "I don't even want to do anything today."

No one could blame her, she had been through so much earlier that morning, and it was going to be a wonder if she even were to function properly.

-Ding-

Victoria raised an eyebrow at the noise, did she just imagine that ding? Yeah, that was it, she was imagining it. That would have indicated that she had mail.

-Ding-

Could be the alarm…no why would it ding? Microwave? That was it, the microwave, makes logic sense. Her eyes were shut once again praying for slumber once more. No one was arguing with her.

-Ding-

"Um…" Johnny said uneasily. "Victoria, I am unsure you heard it the first time, and I am unsure you are sleeping or not but something is dinging.

"I was praying I imagined that damn thing," she moaned.

It was a while before Victoria moved a single muscle. Her body felt like lead to her with lack of sleep. Whoa, back track…she had sleep, just not the amount that she wanted. Slipping off the bed, she made it to her computer and went to her email.

Tori,

The group is getting together to discuss potential strategies to look for the tenth child and how to deal with Myotismon and his goons. I will meet you at your apartment in an hour.

Yumi.

Victoria blinked at the email, it was seven in the freaking morning and Yumi was already online? Oh how she didn't want to deal with the group and get questioned as to where Viximon was. Slamming her head on the desk not worrying what the others had to think.

"Victoria, what is going on?" Dani asked leaning on the railing of the bunk.

"People making plans at seven in the morning. Why are you awake at this time?"

"Well, the scream for one thing woke me up, followed by the slamming of the head," Dani answered grinning at her. "So…what are we doing today?"

"Unfortunately there is no 'we' today kiddo. Yumi, Kiva and a few others are meeting up," replied Victoria ready to respond to the email.

"Why can't I come with you?" Dani asked.

"I rather you not, it's just some things we have to take care of."

"Does it have to do something with the Digivice?" Dani asked pointing to the Digivice on the desk next to Victoria.

"Perhaps," Victoria replied.

Yumi

First of all, why the hell are you up for freaking early? It's seven in the bloody morning. Second of all…why must we have a meeting so early in the morning especially with the group?"

Tor.

"Well, if it is, I could help. You know I'm good with investigations," Dani continued, climbing down the ladder.

"Dani, I would rather you not be apart of this. It's nothing against you. Yes, I would rather have you help but this time it is dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt," Victoria answered. She knew she was being over protective but it was necessary. With Myotismon out searching and the tenth child somewhere out in the city, Victoria couldn't take the risk.

"Aw, please! Please, please, please!" begged Dani.

Victoria stood up from the chair still waiting on a response from Yumi and placed her hands on Dani's cheeks and kissed her forehead. "No, this is the first time I would ask of you not to join us. There are things going on that I rather not see you in the crossfire of."

"No fair."

"Life isn't fair sweet pea," Victoria replied as she rummaged through her closet locating her black pants with lace running down the length of the entire sides. Throwing them on the bed she went to locate a midriff style black top with a mesh backing. With clothing at the ready, Victoria took them back to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

-Ding-

Danielle looked over at the open laptop to see a new email from Yumi. Grinning, she made her way to the computer chair after checking the door and hearing the water running again. Clicking the unopened envelope, Yumi's message popped up.

Tori

I couldn't sleep and the drill sergeants decided to wake me up early to clean. I'm getting sick of this. Oh well. And for the early meeting…get a head start, hope like hell we find the kid before Myotismon does. Kiva had the idea to gather everyone, before you say it, yes she didn't like the idea either but we are all in this together. Bonus though, we get out of the house for the time being.

Yumi.

Dani re-read the message again and again, she felt like she was out of the loop for not knowing what was going on. She didn't want to be stuck in the apartment any more than the older girls did. Thinking quickly, Dani hit reply and quickly typed in a response to the email.

Yumi,

Isn't that like a daily thing though? And isn't the best alternative being to get out of the apartment, like come stay with us that you have been saying for some time? I hope this is worth it though. Do you think it'll be dangerous?

Tori.

Dani let out a little chuckle after sending the email and moved away from the desk and went to go get read for the day. She could hear the water being shut off in the bathroom and knew it wouldn't be safe to be anywhere near the computer when Victoria got back. Victoria didn't like it when Dani read her messages when it didn't concern her.

As she got her own clothes out from the dresser, Victoria came back into the room, freshly showered and dressed. A sigh of relief came over her after shutting the door and leaning against it.

"That was well worth it," sighed Victoria.

"You sound like you haven't had a shower in forever," Puppymon commented stretching his limbs.

"After what we've been through, it's worth it. Dani, you do realize that you can go back to sleep," Victoria said noticing Dani dressed in her clothes and her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Yes I know, but I'm awake no and I'm ready for the day," she replied shrugging.

"Just behave today please."

"Yes mother."

"Oh hush you."

-Ding-

"Wow, took you long enough, Yumi," Victoria sighed unaware of the other email.

Tori

Yes it is and you should know that. Yes I say it daily, or at least it feels like it. I like to vent. You and your family seem to be the best to go to. If things get worse you know I'll come to you guys. You know this is worth it; hello…it's only the fate of the world. Dangerous? Yeah pro…wait…Dani….really? Tell Tori to get ready.

Yumi.

"You know, the best way to hide who you are in an email is not make it obvious it's someone else," Victoria said turning to face her cousin. "You had to respond to her didn't you?"

"I couldn't resist. Please Victoria, let me come with you. I want something to do."

"Forget it kiddo."

Yumi,

Hey girl, I apologize, I was showering. Yeah, that's fine, just come right up. Dani is bugging me to have her come with us. I don't want to risk her life. What do you think?

Tori.

Victoria got off the chair after sending the email and headed for the door only looking back once. Dani was still standing by the computer desk with no intentions of moving.

"Come on kiddo; let's go get some breakfast and we can come back."

"Where are mom and dad?"

"Seeing as its Monday…work."

Heading out to the kitchen with Puppymon, Dani, Ember, Johnny and Youngblood behind her, Victoria made quick work to the kitchen and began to get started on their food. In no way was she going to argue with any orders, she was up for a challenge.

"Have any requests for breakfast or am I going to do my own thing?"

"Blueberry pancakes!" Dani and Youngblood called out. Victoria silently thankful neither one said chocolate chips.

"Blueberry pancakes it is. Ember, Johnny, anything in particular?"

"Nope. Pancakes sound good."

With that being said, Victoria got to work around the kitchen getting everything prepared while Dani set the table, seeing as it was one thing she could be nice enough to do for her. The ghosts and Puppymon felt left out unsure of what they could do to pitch in. There was usually something to do.

Victoria felt a pang of hurt not having Viximon's presence around her. The absence of her Digimon was depressing for her. She was sure that Viximon felt it too. Silently, Victoria wished that Viximon was safe and secure where she was. In all hopes, she wished for a quick return while they were all out.

Almost reading her mind, Ember smiled sadly from the kitchen table. "I am certain Viximon, Akasha, and Snowy are just fine and are together searching for a way back."

"I hope so."

What none of them seem to notice was a note on the counter with Akima's hand writing.

Victoria and Dani

Hope you two have fun today; Dad and I are at work until late tonight. We will phone if something changes. Victoria, you are in charge, make sure Dani stays out of trouble. Obviously she is feeling better, how about taking her out and play. Behave.

Love mom

* * *

Yumi had finished getting ready for the morning, her hair still dripping wet from the shower. She pulled on a pair of black form fitting Capri's with a mesh sleeve black shirt with the rock band Korn on the front. She was not picky with her clothes as she usually would be. Regardless of the hot weather, she preferred to be hidden under the clothes hiding the scars from the night prior.

Quickly checking her messages, she smiled a bit at Victoria's response. Poor Dani only wanted to be included in their group like she always was but this was dangerous work. She also knew Vlad was roaming around and she was unsure if a bunch of teenagers could protect Dani from his grasps. Nonetheless it would be like old times again.

Tori,

Hey girl, if you see it wise to bring her, do it. I don't want to have her be left out like before. I get it that she has no clue what is going on but maybe she could be of use. Don't ask me how, but I'm sure she could. You choice girl. Okay, it is reading 7:30, I'm going to head out, go get something at the coffee shop and meet you. I know early but the asshole is here and I am feeling physically sick to be in his presence.

Yumi.

Sending the message and leaving the computer, Yumi quickly got herself ready, the faster she could be out of the apartment, the better. The morning's argument took the cake for all fights. After being rudely awaken by her mother and step-father to clean the apartment and having little to no sleep, Yumi lashed out more than usual. The shouting was enough to deafen a person; although she wouldn't get physical, knowing she would lose, she never backed down.

The night before after the scene she pulled with her mom, Takashi got wind of it and put Yumi in her place. She was lucky it was only a minor thing compared to what could really transpire. Things for the time being were quiet now that her mother was out of the apartment. Only downside was the asshole, she needed to figure out a quick escape route to avoid him.

Gathering her things and placing them into her bag, she crept over to the door separating her room and the world outside and placed her ear against the wood and listened intently to the sounds on the other side. The sickening feeling never fully went away from her stomach indicated he was somewhere in the kitchen.

-Ding-

Shit! Perfect timing but shit! Rushing back to the laptop, Yumi clicked on the waiting message to see Victoria's name.

Yumi,

If we weren't so blind we would have seen the note from mom. They aren't going to be home until late. I'm in charge. Although Dani has been on her own before, I'm still a little edgy over the fact Vlad might be around. Just hope she behaves. See you soon; you know I love my French vanilla.

Tor.

Yumi smiled a little bit not bothering to send a reply as she shut the entire computer down and grabbed her bag. Run out and don't look back, she told herself. It seemed to be a good way to get out undetected. Opening the door and taking a quick look outside, she slipped from her room and made her way to the front door all before Takashi had time to figure out something was amiss.

'_Only six more years. I don't know if I can last that long. Wonder if I could bug Dragos enough to put up with me,'_ she sighed dejectedly as she continued her way out of the apartment building and out into the early morning streets.

The early morning light shone down as if it were earlier than the scheduled time. However, as a bonus, the weather was just perfect, the breeze cool but threatening to sky rocket to insufferable temperatures in the high thirties.

After a quick pit stop to the coffee shop en route to Victoria's, she grabbed their orders, opting at the last second to include some pastries for later. She needed the food knowing she hasn't grabbed any food in the process. With the food secure in her bag and drinks in the trays, Yumi headed over to Victoria's apartment five blocks away.

Making her way inside and up to the twenty-sixth floor, Yumi knocked on the door to Victoria's apartment. She was patient as she listened to the scrambling feet of the occupants inside.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" a frantic Victoria called. "Youngblood, where the hell did you hide my shoes?"

"I'm not telling," the sing song voice of Youngblood called out a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I swear I'm going to kill you!"

"Temper temper!"

Seconds later, Dani carefully opened the door revealing the inside where a frustrated looking Victoria was contemplating the death of a small boy floating in the air dressed in a pirate outfit. On his shoulder was a skull parrot that seemed to be less than amused by the fighting.

"Nice timing."

"What did Youngblood do now?" Yumi asked stepping inside. She was used to Victoria and Youngblood pulling little stunts such as this. Youngblood was also another ghost that Yumi was use to and enjoyed being around.

"Well, I'm sure you heard the yell. Youngblood decided to steal Victoria's shoes and hid them somewhere. It's been that type of morning," Dani explained sitting on the ground.

"Oh lovely," Yumi let out a sigh as she watched her friend chase after the pirate ghost with so much rage. With all that going on she noticed something different. The small yellow fox digimon was no where to be found. At first she thought perhaps she Digivolved into Renamon and that might be in hiding.

'_Okay, good theories. But why would she disappear? Wouldn't she want to stay by Victoria's side?' _she thought to herself.

Looking down she noticed Dani sitting against the wall absently petting Puppymon's head. Wait? Puppymon? Did she see that correctly? Okay there definitely had to be a logical explanation to that.

"Hey Dani, do you know where Viximon is?"

Dani kept her eyes focused on Puppymon. Victoria had informed her while eating breakfast after she asked who the new dog was.

~flashback~

Dani couldn't help but notice a few things missing from the house and the new addition. She kept looking at the new addition with curiosity. She knew that there was something unique about the creature and a normal dog was NOT the answer.

"Hey Victoria, where did you go last night?"

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked from the stove pouring the batter into the pan. She wanted to play stupid and hopefully keep things secret.

"Just after midnight you left the apartment. You didn't exactly keep quiet when you were in the living room."

Victoria swallowed as she stared ahead. She thought for certain that Dani was sleeping. If she heard that did her parents. "How did you know that?"

"Youngblood kept me awake and after Snowy came into the room I was awake. Mom came in after you and Ember left to make sure you were okay. When she saw that you were gone I told her that you took Akasha for a walk because she had to go. Mom bought it."

Victoria face palmed letting out a groan in the process. She regretted that action of freaking the way the did. Now the problem came into play of...what exactly was she going to tell her parents when they noticed that Akasha and Snowy were gone?

"Thanks for covering me."

"No worries now spill. What were you doing out that late, where are Akasha, Snowy and Viximon and who is this?"

The cousin of a thousand questions. Oh this was going to be one very interesting explanation in the long run. "Since you are not going to stop asking. Ember and I went to go track down Akasha, Snowy and Viximon after Youngblood decided to let them out. Unfortunately we couldn't find them and we were out for hours. Kiva met up with us after she noticed something was wrong. This is Puppymon by the way, he is Kiva's partner. He's staying with us for a bit. Her mom doesn't like pets and instead of leaving him there he wanted to stay with us."

"Ah okay that explains a lot. Do you think we will be able to find those three today?"

"That's my goal today while we are searching for the new child," Victoria admitted. She wasn't going to hide things from Dani, knowing that she would find out regardless.

"Well I wish you luck find the child."

"Thanks kiddo." Victoria went to turn and smile at Dani and caught sight of a knowing look in Ember's eye. She could see the green eyes shift to Dani who was currently focusing on Puppymon and playing with him.

Victoria shook her head silently telling her that it wasn't true. Say nothing, she mouthed. She was trying to keep in denial but she truly didn't want to believe any of it. Ember seemed to be persistent on the whole topic, there was no way she was going to give up on the ordeal.

"Even if she were, I don't want to go spreading it around. Besides, we have to keep her safe from Vlad," Victoria mouthed

"You do realize she'll always be in danger."

"Yeah, I know. That's something I'm worried about regardless."

"I'll give you my word; I'll keep quiet but know that in time things will be found out."

Victoria sighed as she nodded in agreement. She wasn't overly amused by the whole thing but she didn't exactly have a leg to stand on.

~End flashback~

Dani finally looked up at Yumi who was leaning against the wall staring down at her. It wasn't a look of annoyance or demanding, it was a look of understanding. Something only certain people in her life got to see.

Sighing in defeat, Dani replied. "Viximon ran off last night. I'm sure Victoria will explain later. Sadly Akasha and Snowy were with her too."

"What is Pup…?"

"Kiva told Victoria that her mother doesn't like animals and they thought this was a good idea."

"Now things come clear. Hey Youngblood, where did you hide it?" Yumi yelled trying to get their attention.

"Not telling."

"Look, we have to go and I'm not in the mood to see a chase occur."

Youngblood stopped suddenly noticing something in Yumi's hand. Victoria had enough time to grab him in the process and held him tight. This however wouldn't last but with him distracted she was able to keep hold.

"Find the shoes and you get a treat," Yumi bribed waving the pastry in front of her.

Youngblood, now fully drooling, nodded before fazing from Victoria's grasp and disappeared from the room. Silence filled them as Ember and Johnny let out a sigh of annoyance to the behaviour.

"You sure you want to bring him?"

"We have no choice. Mom wants me to look after Dani and those two don't exactly split up."

"So that means Dani is joining us?" "Yep."

Seconds later Youngblood returned to the living room holding up Victoria's black military boots. The items in question were still in contact and nothing out of the ordinary was on them or in them. Cautiously, Victoria took the boots from Youngblood just as he zoomed off to Yumi.

"All right, can I have my treat now?" He truly was a child at heart. Always expecting a treat after doing a chore or a good thing. Yumi knew she couldn't deny him the treat, she had agreed. Handing over the pure icing pasty to the ghost, he stared wide eyed before devouring the thing.

"Ready to go?" Yumi asked dusting off her hands.

"You know it, let's get to the park and get started with this chaos."

* * *

The ghost zone seemed to be in a buzz after Vlad called forth all the ghosts that were known to cause mayhem and destruction. He was impressed that so many had shown up when he called them. Twenty-four of the wicked ghosts were assembled, awaiting news that Vlad said he had.

"What is all this about Plasmius?" asked a young looking woman with green wild hair, fishnet stockings, a short black skirt and a red top under a black jacket. Her impatience seemed to be running thin and being summoned all in one place didn't feel good to her.

"All in good time my dear Kitty. I've gathered you all here today to ask for help in two things. One of them is retrieving Danielle. It is about time she joins the ranks of all of us. The other is to assist someone I have the pleasure to work with. Our goals will be met with our forces united."

"Why should we listen to anything you have to say?" asked a man in all white with a white fedora.

"For once I agree with you Walker, why should we bother?"

"As a bonus, we will also be bringing Ember and Johnny back."

That seemed to get everyone's attention. Vlad knew that he still had a lot to convince and hopefully now it would go by smoother now that he had their full attention. However, there was a ghost in the back that would not follow anyone's orders but his own. It was going to be difficult to get him to join.

"Just trust that this is going to be worth you while. Besides, it'll just be another area to cause as much trouble as in Amity Park."

After some heated debate over the whole thing and the still mystery person Vlad mentioned the ghosts finally agreed to the whole thing.

"When do we get to meet this person you speak of?"

"When you are ready to leave, now will be a great time."

After getting all the ghosts into the human world and to the hidden lair where Myotismon had his minions gathered in one of the rooms, it was here that things seemed to go downhill.

Myotismon turned his attention to Vlad with a knowing looking. Vlad caught his eye and did a quick nod. Something like that wasn't going to go unnoticed by the surrounding Digimon. Turning around they caught sight of the ghosts with Vlad and a handful of them had looks of annoyance and disgust on their faces. It was bad enough that one of them decided to appear in their lair but now a group of them had to show up, this wasn't right. Kudamon, Phantomon, a BlackGatomon, SkullMeramon and a couple of others quickly averted their gaze from the intruders and back to their master.

The ghosts seemed to have the same feeling toward the Digimon as well. Vlad of course was able to fill in the others as much as he could with the type of company they would be helping. There were still details even he himself was unclear on but was sure as ever that everything would be explained clearly by those that are apart of the group.

"Now that we are finally gathered, we can finally get underway. Scour the areas no matter how far. These..." Myotismon held up the tag in his clutches. "Will assist you in your searches. I don't, under any circumstances, want any of you back here empty handed! Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Right!" All the Digimon shouted.

The ghosts stood near the back, a lot of them having their own ideas of how things should go. Most if not all of the ghosts followed their own rules no one else's.

"Remind me again why we have to listen to anyone of them?"

"Our chances of locating Dani will be doubled as well as dealing with her cousin."

* * *

Slowly the group began to make their way to the meet up place at the park roughly twenty minutes later. Robert and Yukito were there already. Tentomon and Penguinmon were resting by their feet a light blanket overtops of them. James and Bearmon were the next to show up; exhaustion filled the human's eyes from being woken so early in the morning. Mark, Kisho, Gaomon and Labramon followed shortly behind them.

"There you are!" Mark exclaimed in exasperation as Victoria, Yumi, Dani, Ember, Youngblood, Johnny, and Puppymon were one of the last ones to appear. Victoria had the look of exhaustion on her face. If at any point anyone would talk to her she had no fear to snap at anyone. The lack of sleep was very evident. Yumi didn't seem to have any problems as she usually did but that was at this point. The small group approached the others, who were all sitting underneath the shade of a few large oak trees crowded together, their branches touching the sky. "Holy, how slow are you guys?"

"Give it a rest Mark…" Victoria responded ambivalently a murderous look in her tired eyes.

"It's good to see everyone has gathered this morning," Yumi admitted placing her shoulder bag on the ground.

Kisho nudged him. "So-why did you call us all here?"

"Didn't seem as if we had a choice," James grinned. He wasn't trying to start a fight, he was kidding around.

She shrugged lightly collapsing on the ground next to them. At least she was out of that hot sun. "Why waste a perfectly nice day with TV?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Hah hah. Very funny. Where are the others anyway?"

"Kiva's missing…where's Tora?" Tentomon buzzed.

Robert rolled his eyes. "She's probably out buying clothes…."

"All right, seeing as we are partially all here, we just need to wait for the other two to show up."

"Um...who may I ask is that?" Mark asked pointing toward Dani.

Victoria looked down at her cousin who was standing crossed arm next to a pirate ghost. "This is my cousin Dani; I had to bring her along."

"Hi, I'm Kisho," the small boy introduced himself going over to her extending her hand.

"Hi, great to meet you," she replied taking his hand into hers. Dani had a genuine smile on her face. It wasn't that of a forced on smile she would place on her face with others.

"Where is Kiva?" James asked noticing Puppymon sitting at Victoria's feet.

"She hasn't shown up I guess," Victoria shrugged.

"Why do you have Pup...?" Mark started before being cut off.

"Kiva thought it would be safer and wiser for Puppymon to stay with me," Victoria admitted.

"All right, fair enough."

Victoria sat next to Yumi wiping her forehead from the access sweat building up. The shade was doing nothing to cool her down. She watched Dani sit next to Kisho with Youngblood attached to her waist. Ember and Johnny took to the branches above the group to relax in the shade.

It didn't take long till a soft moan reached their ears. Turning around the group could see a hot looking Tora make her way toward them with a carrier bag at her side and part of Lalamon peaking through.

"Sorry I'm late, alarm didn't go off, Lalamon had to wake me," Tora apologized sitting next to James.

"Did you guys see it?" Yukito asked in a hushed voice. "It was all over the news on the TV this morning!"

"More and more of Myotismon's Digibozos are popping up all over the city."

Victoria rested on her back, staring up at the sky. "And they're very real this time."

Youngblood blinked. "Er…translation, please?"

"It was when Renamon and I came back here, there were Digimon all over the place. But only Dani and I could see them. Everybody else walked right by them, as if they weren't even there! Now even normal people see them, and they're on the news and everything. It's like they're really here this time!"

Robert looked thoughtful. "Maybe…it's because they came through the Gate Myotismon used."

Mark just shook his head. "I don't like it. If they can be seen that means they're here physically…and if they're here physically…they can do a whole lot of damage…"

Kisho cringed as he looked at Dani. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Do I really need to remind you what those evil monsters are capable of?"

Victoria growled as she sat up. "Then what are we all sitting around here for? We better get out there and find the tenth kid before they do! Save the Digiworld and we'll save our own!"

Kisho nodded, a grin forming on his face. "Go Tori!"

Mark just sighed and sat backwards. "So? What's the plan?"

"Well…I have a theory."

As if on cue, wrestling of leaves could be heard from the branches of neighbouring trees. Creaking branches sounded indicating that someone was standing on them or jumping on them. Puppymon looked up first followed by Victoria and Yumi.

"Holding a meeting without me?"

Those who weren't paying attention to their gazes all yelped and nearly fell over startled a bit when Kiva leapt down landing in the middle of the circle.

"Good to see you finally joining us," Yumi grinned up at her friend. "We would never start without you!"

Kiva took her spot next to Yumi and Victoria lightly petted Puppymon's head happy to see him.

"We already concluded that when the Digimon attacked four years ago, all of us where there, including the eighth child. It is also safe to assume that we were each given Digivices for a reason. Last night I picked up an unidentified Digivice reading-"You did?" Victoria exclaimed, his eyes widening. "That must have been the same signal Ember and I saw!"

Tora raised an eyebrow. "What were you two doing out so late at night?" she asked, in all seriousness as realization kicked in that Renamon wasn't there.

"When did you see this signal Victoria?" Robert asked urgently.

"It was right after Ember and I were out searching for Viximon, Snowy and Akasha," she sighed shaking her head. No one said anything, at that point in time there didn't need to be any discussion on that topic.

There was silence for a moment before Robert sighed. "In that case we're back to the original plan…we may have lost the signal but the eighth child is still in the vicinity. That's why the monsters are here too. My conclusion is we have to patrol the city for monster attacks and keep an eye out for the tenth child."

Tora gazed over to Dani then over to Victoria for answers. Victoria shook her head and mouthed, 'she's my cousin, nothing more.'

"So how are we splitting the groups up?" asked Yukito.

"James, Mark and Kisho are in one group; Yukito and Robert are in the second; while Victoria, Kiva, Dani and -sighs- Tora is in my group," Yumi announced as more groans sounded next to her.

The city on either sides of the group rushed past as the train zoomed across the bridge. It was ten minutes after the team left the park and headed to the train station to start their day off.

Victoria cringed as she could see smoke rising up from the rubble, buildings charred, bridges cracked deep gaping craters in some places. Most of it was from the day prior as well as later that nights attack.

"Wow…" Yumi grimaced. "Look at all that…all from just last night."

"And there's going to be a lot more if this keeps up."

Kisho sighed, "We got to hurry up and find that tenth child!" He was sitting next to Dani; even she had a wary look on her face.

"We will!" Mark responded confidently. "We're not called the Digidestined for nothing!"

**A/N: Sorry for all the wait…been trying to figure things out for this chapter. As well, I am unsure if Vlad in the show was ever real close to the ghosts minus Skulker. In this he's close to everyone and is able to get his way. Spoil, Pariah Dark is still the king of all ghosts and feared by all and does voice his opinions.**


	53. Searching Dilemmas

**A/N: I am so glad that all of you are enjoying this. Thank you so much to San Child of the Wolves, Night's oath and White Hunter for your continuously awesome reviews. Greetings to my new subscribers, I truly hope will continue to enjoy this story.**

Chapter 53

Searching dilemmas

August 2nd (11am)

At a station near downtown Tokyo, the Digidestined had gathered to peruse the streets in hopes of finding the final member of their group. The city on either sides of the group rushed past as the train zoomed across the bridge. It was ten minutes after the team left the park and headed to the train station to start their day off.

Victoria cringed as she could see smoke rising up from the rubble, buildings charred, bridges cracked deep gaping craters in some places. Most of it was from the day prior as well as later that nights attack.

"Wow…" Yumi grimaced. "Look at all that…all from just last night."

"And there's going to be a lot more if this keeps up."

Kisho sighed, "We got to hurry up and find that tenth child!" He was sitting next to Dani; even she had a wary look on her face.

"So how do we do this?" Dani asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We are going to split up once at our destination to cover more ground," Yumi explained crossing her leg and leaning on her knee.

"The probability of running into the Tenth Digidestined increases exponentially if we separate. Myotismon is employing a similar tactic with his minions. You'll notice that we have not had to fight them more than one at a time."

"That's a great plan, but what about if we encounter a stronger opponent?" Mark asked. He was obviously overly anxious about dealing with anything on his own.

"The likeliest chance we have to that would be pray your partners are strong enough as well as a back up plan is run like hell comes to mind," Yumi explained. She wasn't going to sugar coat anything. The group by now should have had these strategies in mind.

"I think it wise if I go with Yukito and Robert. Give them a fighting chance," Johnny volunteered. He had grown use to being with the two boys and enjoyed their company.

"All right, fair enough. I'll stay with the girls," Ember nodded.

"How come I don't get a say in this matter?" Dani asked slightly annoyed that things were planned around her.

"Because you are lucky enough to be here right now. Besides, this way I can keep an eye out for the two of you," Victoria replied indicating between her cousin and the pirate ghost.

"I just hope this goes really smoothly. That's all I'm saying," Dani muttered under her breath as the group went back to talking.

"I just hope it'll be quick to locate him, sooner we have him the quicker we can kill Myotismon," Tora sighed.

"Our chances should be good if we don't lose sight of our mission," Robert admitted.

Kiva sat there listening to the group. It was truly getting to her that they were all assuming that the new child was a boy. Never once did they expect the child to be a girl. What? Did they automatically assume that a girl couldn't possibly be strong enough?

"Has it ever crossed your minds that we could be searching for a girl by any means? Hell for all we know it could be Dani!" Kiva snapped startling the small group.

"All right, all right, sorry. Didn't know it meant that much to have a correct saying," James said raising his hands.

"Truthfully, it's more likely we are searching for a girl anyway," Kiva shrugged playing with her crest.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling I have," Kiva admitted.

"Well, let's just focus on finding said child and hope for a brighter outcome," Yukito said as they left the station and began to take off to their surrounding areas.

"Good luck, everybody!" Tora called as they split apart. Silently she mouthed to anyone that was looking: 'help me.'

It had been a while since the group went their own separate ways in the city. Robert, Yukito, Johnny and their Digimon decided to hit up the busy section of the city hoping to have some progress there. The delicious scent drew the attentions of their disguised Digimon.

Penguinmon drooled hungrily as he sniffed the air. "I see food," he said as him and Tentomon looked into the restaurant. The different scents wafted out, sizzling wonderfully, the scent drifting over to the Digidestined.

"So….hungry…" Penguinmon drooled.

Yukito rolled his eyes before lightly thumping Penguinmon on the head. "Penguinmon, will you please keep your mind on the mission, understand?" he scolded as he, Johnny and Robert walked passed.

Johnny grinned a bit as he looked back at the Digimon, who had a look of defeat on their faces when the boys refused to stop. It hadn't been very long since the five left the station. He was sure the Digimon were well fed before leaving the houses. For the time being Johnny just wanted to focus on locating the child. That was their goal and he wanted to keep it that way.

'_I have a feeling I have been hanging around Yumi, Kiva and Victoria a little too much,' _Johnny sighed.

Johnny turned his attention toward Yukito's boyfriend, who was looking squarely at the Digivice in his hand, hoping for a signal to pop up again. Yukito looked over at Robert just as a group of children ran by, laughing and enjoying the day. The two boys and their Digimon stood to one side as they passed.

"Anything?" the younger of the two asked.

Robert looked at the blank screen of his Digivice after the children were far enough gone and sighed. "No, there's nothing, yet."

Johnny let out a small groan at the news. This was definitely going to be a LONG day indeed.

* * *

Mark, Kisho, James and their partners took to the docks and piers of the city, hoping that maybe the child had returned to the place. James, Kisho and Mark were watching a crew of construction workers sifting through the wreckage with their machines.

"Aw, doesn't look like he's around here," Kisho complained, the heat already getting to him. Labramon nuzzled his leg as he tried to comfort his partner. Wiping the sweat off his forehead he looked up at the older boys as he lightly petted Labramon's head.

"Where should we go next?" Mark asked letting out a sigh as Gaomon crossed his arms in thought.

"Maybe they're in one of the parks somewhere around here," James suggested, "If they are a kid like us, and if they don't know about the Digimon yet, they might just be doing everyday stuff while everyone is looking for them."

"Good enough for me," Mark sighed, leading away from the docks now. Although their luck might not truly be with them down there, it was least a try in the right direction.

Kisho pulled out his own Digivice as they reached the pier. Families were sitting relaxed in the sun as children swam and dared each over to dive off the edge. "Nope," he muttered. Labramon's ears drooped at the defeat in his voice. "That would've just been too easy."

Mark snorted. "Right."

* * *

As for Yumi, Victoria, Dani, the Digimon and ghosts, they were in the suburb part of the city working their way around to one of the residential areas.

It truly was one of the most peaceful spots any of them could have possibly hit. The only downside as to going those ways was the lack of shade. Hours had passed them since departing from the train station and waving goodbye from their friends. The weather was turning hotter and unbearable the longer the girls walked. Even Youngblood and Ember were feeling the effects of the summer weather.

"Ugh this weather is disgusting..." groaned Ember wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I hear you on that. I'll be happy if we can keep to a lot of the shady areas as long as possible," whined Youngblood.

"I promise we'll make it a quick one today. Dani, are you going to be okay?" Victoria asked turning to face her cousin.

"It's disgusting out. I'll be fine," Dani replied keeping up with the paces of her cousin and friend.

The girls were grateful that people would never have suspicious about the two Digimon. Puppymon looked like a regular looking German Sheppard, with a slight uniqueness. Lalamon on the other hand was kept securely in Tora's bag; even then she passed as a stuffed animal. As for the ghosts there were no suspicions about them. Youngblood always kept invisible to any adult. As usual, there was an ever growing tension with the chaos triplets and Tora.

While the four had an agreement that there would be no physical contact or obscenities thrown around, mainly on the triplets behalf didn't mean that agreement would last. Being around one another could cause life threatening problems. Tora stayed quiet for most of the trip, knowing if she opened her mouth trouble would follow. For the triplets, the mere thought of Tora being with them was agonizing. The Digiworld dilemma remained fresh in their heads and they were not afraid to kill.

"Where exactly do you think the child could possibly be?" Ember asked continuing to stroll down the street. Youngblood on the other hand was floating around the girls making funny faces or doing stupid things. Dani found it amusing; however the older ones rolled their eyes at the behaviour.

Victoria tilted her head down an alleyway, her mind wandered elsewhere. She knew what was important right now but currently her thoughts were on finding Akasha, Snowy and Viximon. Oh Viximon how scared she must be at that moment, somewhere unfamiliar, frightened. Those thoughts were quickly pushed to the side at the thought of Myotismon and his army finding her and torturing her.

Yumi turned her gazed toward her childhood friend and swallowed seeing unshed tears well up in her eyes. At that instant Yumi knew that her thoughts were with her pets and partner.

"Tori, we will find them I promise."

"What happened exactly?" Tora asked indicating to the conversation, unsure what was going on.

Victoria hung her head and looked over at the other girl. Tora physically flinched thinking Victoria was going to yell at her. What surprised her most was what came out of the pre-teens mouth.

"Last night my dog, cat and partner disappeared from the apartment. Apparently Youngblood here let them out. Ember and I went out to look for them for hours on end but retuned empty handed after running into Kiva. Am I ready to kill Youngblood? Very much so!" Victoria glared over at the pirate with such deadliness.

Youngblood felt the glare of the young girl on him. He was currently talking with Dani and Yumi. Turning around he cringed when he saw Victoria's narrowed black eyes on him.

Tora knew that look all too well, she felt bad for him. On the other hand she let it go, knowing he deserved it. Tora placed a gentle hand on Victoria's shoulder. It wasn't the safest option but instead of a fight ensuing she rather keep to a peaceful walk.

Victoria let out a warning growl when she returned to look at Tora. She was not in the mood to deal with stupidity today. Tora backed away afraid of what could happen. Victoria shook her head pushing everything to the side.

"Let's just keep going. I'm sure the child will be somewhere around here," Victoria announced with a slight pang of annoyance and anger in her voice.

Yumi turned her attention to Ember and Tora with a knowing look in her eye. This day was not going to be a smooth one on any circumstances. The thoughts of the animals were clear in Victoria's mind and the tenth child pushed aside.

—

In the busy city section, five blocks from the girls location, a person in a white suit and black fedora was roaming around the area bypassing the rushing-by pedestrians who seemed to be in their own little world as they pushed past him. Some had destinations to get to while others were just in a hurry to get out of the unforgiving sun. He glared at them with such hatred. 'Pathetic creatures. They don't even know what is in store for them yet. Regardless if this Myotismon creature takes over or I do; these foolish creatures won't know what hit them,' Walker mused. Currently he had a small metal round creature floating next to him with a wicked grin plastered on his face.

"How in the DigiHell I got stuck with you is beyond me," Tekkamon sneered.

"Tekkamon is a machine type Digimon which wields the "Zandenken" in his right hand. He was created by an evil hacker with the purpose the "Net Keeper."

"Don't think I was overly impressed to be stuck with you. Or your other 'companion'," Walker scoffed as he turned to face a tall, muscular red demon dragon type Digimon. Its front was all white with black stripes around his chest, upper thighs and wrists. The white hair reached down to just about the tail. Four spikes protruded from the end of said tail. On his head were two horns with black stripes. His ears were long and pointed backwards.

"A Demon Dragon Digimon who is called the "Crimson Demon Dragon". Guilmon, who was infected with an x-antibody, evolved into a more wild and ferocious Digimon. Growlmon's roars bear the power to shake the earth, and it intimidates the enemy with a roaring battle cry before it attacks. Its specialty is "Plasma Blade", which attacks the enemy by generating plasma around its sharp elbows. Its special attack is "Exhaust Flame", which spits out powerfully explosive flames."

Growlmonx, who was currently sniffing a dark alleyway, stood upright and let out a low growl. "You're no prize yourself. Look, I'm not here to play nice. I just want to find that kid so we can be over all this. And don't you dare start on your whole rules bit either. I'm in no mood to listen to them," Growlmonx warned with narrowed eyes. Walker had expressed his value of rules and what not earlier on. Some of it was for those in the ghost zone and didn't apply in the human world.

Walker scoffed at the creature as he turned on his heel, hands stuffed in his pockets as he casually strolled down the street. The two Digimon were behind him focusing on the mission at hand. GrowlmonX was sniffing the air in hopes of locating the scent of any children. People heed them no attention as they continued along their way. For the time being the Digimon and ghosts were told to keep a low profile until further notice. No sense in causing mayhem and scaring the child away now.

"Hmm...That's interesting..." GrowlmonX mused softly sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Walker asked.

"I do believe I found something of interest. Not the child but the Digidestineds themselves."

"That's even better. Where exactly are they?" Walker asked.

"This way, come on."

The two Digimon and ghost made their way down the street leading toward the residential section of the city.

—

The girls continued their way down the street, their hopes of finding said child was diminishing with each step they took. It was becoming a lost cause no matter how they looked at it. Time ticked by as the five made their way down along the residential streets. Their Digivice remained quiet each block they took. Victoria was hitting nearly all the buttons trying to get the map to appear as it did in the Digiworld.

"Victoria, you are going to break that thing. What are you trying to do?" Ember asked.

"I'm going to try and get the map so I can see if I can locate Viximon."

Yumi reached her hand out to Victoria's Digivice and hit a button on the side. "The Digivice did nothing to you. Keep a calm head," she advised.

Victoria gazed at the map with apprehension when nothing appeared. She was getting so worked up not even the simplest of tasks was working for her. She understood that Yumi was going through a similar predicament at the time and could relate to her. Sadly Victoria's mind jumped to the worst conclusions possible. _'__Yeah regardless what I'm going through, she won't care to help. She's far too focused on finding her partner.__'_

'_She's just like you, so self absorbed into your own wants you would never think she would help,__'_the little voice inside commented.

Yumi let out a sigh as she eyed the conflict her friend was going through. She herself was in the spot where she wanted to go off on her own and find her Digimon. Seeing that Victoria was going through hell at the moment with her missing pets and partner, Yumi could see that all other thoughts of the mission left her mind. Dani, Ember, Youngblood, Kiva and Puppymon had kept walking ahead unaware of the other two stopping. Upon hearing Yumi's sigh, they knew it was a wise idea to stop, regardless of the distance that they created.

"Victoria, what is it you want to do right now? Because finding the tenth child doesn't seem to be even crossing your mind," Yumi asked.

Dani looked up at Ember, Tora and Kiva trying to figure out what was going on. She was growing agitated with standing around and not having anything fun and exciting to do. The sun was beginning to get hotter and hotter and stopping every now and again was adding more problems to the young girl.

"So what exactly are we doing now?" Dani asked crossing her arms.

"Wish I knew," Tora responded eyeing the two girls behind them in a heated discussion.

"I know it's going to sound selfish but I want to try and locate Viximon, Akasha and Snowy. I'm worried sick Yumi. I know you get where I'm coming from here. I just really want to find them and bring them back home," Victoria explained running her fingers through her hair.

Yumi shook her head. She wasn't going to deny Victoria her search time. "If that is what you truly wish to do, I will not be stopping you."

"That means everything to me," Victoria responded clutching the Digivice in her hand. She was determined to leave right at that moment without a second thought. She looked back at the group who were still standing there unsure of what was going on.

Yumi turned her attention back to the group as well. She didn't need to be a mind reader to figure out what was going through Victoria's head at that moment. She could see the questioning looks coming from the group as well.

"You know Kiva, Dani, Ember and I will be more than happy to help you out. Tora has to deal with it."

"But that's the thing. Although I am highly grateful that you want to help, I am unsure if I can deal with being around Tora or Youngblood. I'm still furious with him after what he did. As for Tora, one wrong word and there could be a fight on our hands and that is one thing I do not want to deal with right now," Victoria explained.

Yumi nodded in understanding, so far everyone was getting along and they wanted to keep it that way. "It's up to you girl."

Victoria gave a quick nod heading down an alleyway away from the group. Dani's eyes widened thinking Victoria was going to abandon them. She was prepared to run after her when Yumi held out her arm.

"Yumi, what is going on? Where is Tori going?" Dani demanded struggling in Yumi's hold after she wrapped her arms around her when she went to run.

"Settle down and relax. Victoria is just stressed over locating her pets and partner. I do agree that we should go along with her. I'm just paranoid that she will do something stupid she will regret and no one is around. There is only one down side to this...absolutely no bugging the hell out of her. She's close to snapping as it is, she doesn't need this," Yumi explained.

"Shouldn't our first priority be to locate the child?" Tora asked, earning an elbow in the ribs by Kiva who gave a warning look.

"Yes it should. But I rather not split up even more then we already are. Besides as of right now, we are down two Digimon. If we are not careful one wrong move and we could end up dead," Yumi acknowledged.

"I agree with Yumi, Victoria needs us more. Besides I'm pretty sure we can multitask in our searches," Kiva agreed nodding at Ember who was already in agreement to help find Viximon and the other two.

"All right all right. I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Now that's settled, lets catch with her royal highness," Yumi grinned. Ever since they were young, whenever Victoria wanted her way over someone else's, Yumi gave her the title 'royal highness'. Of course that usually leads to death glares from Victoria herself.

"You do know she is going to kill you for that comment, right?" Dani said strolling beside the older girl.

"Oh I am fully aware of that. Do I care? Not really. Come on, I saw her up ahead about to turn down another corner," Yumi mentioned, pointing to the figuring with black hair and blue streaks.

Victoria heaved a low sigh as she left the group and made off on her own down the streets. It felt good to have some time to herself, even if for a little bit. The tension she felt surging being around Tora and Youngblood seemed to vanish once they were out of sight. She just wished for once she could maintain her mood swings and perhaps be in better spirits with those around her.

The dark alley stretched on for some time with no sense of letting up. Most people that took to the unknown, strange alleys would be terrified and feared what could pop out any time. Not Victoria, she thrived on the darkness and took it as more of a learning experience and a way to overcome fears.

Her hopes were high that she could be able to find at least one of three in this area. She didn't have a strong faith that either if them could be there but it was worth a shot. In the back of her mind Victoria thought it better to not call out in the darkness just encase someone of none friendly manner his the shadows.

Upon nearing the exit, two sets of footsteps greeted Victoria's ears. At first she shrugged it off passing it off as pedestrians going down the street. When the light dimmed a bit allowing her to see better, the first thing she noticed was the lack of people around her. Raising an eyebrow, Victoria poked her head around the corner a bit in time to see Walker, and two Digimon heading her way. At the time being none of them seemed focused on her current location.

"I knew this was too good to be true. Wonder how many more of these bozos are roaming around. And what is Walker's intention with being around those guys!" Victoria thought to herself as she pinned her back to the wall. Her breath caught in her throat when the shadows appeared closer to her. Oh how screwed she was going to be if any of them spotted her.

"It's just down this way, I'm sure if it. I can smell their scent," GrowlmonX growled coming to the alleyway.

"This better not be a wild goose chase," Walker warned.

Victoria felt her heart rate go up as the shadows got closer. She cursed under her breath thinking it would be wise to go searching on her own not fully protected with partner.

Down the other side of the alley where she had first started, additional footsteps could be heard coming her way. Victoria wanted so bad to yell at them to tell them trouble was around the corner, but her voice caught.

Through the faint light that came from the open area, Victoria's eyes caught sight of a machete directly in front of her face. Her breath caught in her throat as only her eyes moved to see who held on to said sword.

"Look who we have here boys," Walker sneered down at her.

Ember, Kiva, Yumi and Dani stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of Walker and the two Digimon. Instinctively, Yumi pulled Dani behind her as Youngblood went invisible. He was not in the mood to deal with the law enforcing ghost.

"Get away from her Walker, I'm warning you!" Ember called getting into a fighting position.

"Well, well, well, look who showed her face," Walker grinned.

Tekkamon applied more pressure to Victoria's neck with the blade. Victoria was struggling and fighting to free herself from his grip. She knew regardless that it was a worthless attempt on her behalf. She cold feel something warm run down her neck. The little bastard was going to bleed her.

'_Oh Viximon, I wish you were here. I need you!__'_Victoria silently called out.

Growling sounded from behind Walker as GrowlmonX came stalking in with menacing eyes. He was out for blood, and these four Digidestineds would make an excellent meal. Victoria's eyes widened at the sight of the anti-body Digimon zeroing in on her. She could faintly see something glinting around his neck that suspiciously looked like a crest.

"Get away from her right now, I mean it!" Puppymon warned, feeling the need to protect his friend. GrowlmonX was inches from Victoria's face, teeth bared ready to take her out.

Victoria's breath caught in her breath as her heart rate quickened. This couldn't be happening; she couldn't go out like this.

Walker laughed as he watched GrowlmonX narrow in on her. He wasn't going to stop him, why would he?

Tekkamon kept applying more and more pressure on to Victoria's neck refusing to let her get free. The blood kept spilling down her neck. Fear was filling the girl to the brink. GrowlmonX raised his claws to her ready to slice through her.

"Puppy claw!"

The attack hit quickly, startling the two. GrowlmonX stepped away from Victoria as he let out a yelp of pain. Tekkamon dropped his zandenken on the ground freeing Victoria. Walker was able to avoid the attack altogether and able to grab the girl in time.

"Now really? Did you honestly think I was going to let you get away from us so easily?" Walker hissed into her ear.

"Walker I swear I will kill you if you harm her in any way," vowed Ember.

"Oh my dear Ember do you really think that threat will work on me?" Walker asked tightening his hold on the young adolescent.

Ember narrowed her eyes as she pointed her guitar at Walker. Sure she was going to hit Victoria, but it wasn't going to kill her...hopefully. She could hear Walker laugh in a snide way. He was thinking the same thing. He knew how foolish that truly was. Did she really expect to hurt the human child she seemed so attached to?

Ember gave Victoria a knowing looking, hoping to at least have some understanding of what needed to be done. Victoria wasn't stupid. She was caught in the crossfire and the only way out was this. Both had a silent agreement of what to do in these situations.

Strumming the cord with no more hesitation, Ember sent out her attack praying the entire time that Victoria would get out of there if he let go. A pink light appeared going straight for the two. Not even flinching, Walker simply went intangible and taking Victoria with him. There was a sound of annoyed yell when Ember saw that happen.

"Pathetic."

All the while Ember and Walker argued Tora and Kiva nodded to their partners silently letting them know to get ready to attack. Lalamon and Puppymon turned to each other and gave a quick sharp nod. They could easily take care of these losers.

"Puppymon Digivolve to Wolfmon!"

"Lalamon Digivolve to Sunflowmon!"

Walker narrowed his eyes at the bright light coming from the now evolved Digimon. GrowlmonX and Tekkamon growled in annoyance and prepared for battle.

"You have two seconds to let her go Walker, you have no clue what these two are capable of," Ember warned, extending her arm to the side to stop Yumi and Kiva from running to Victoria's aid.

"You truly think these pathetic Digimon of yours can cause me any harm?" laughed Walker.

Victoria let out a strangled yell as Walker applied more pressure on her arms making them feel like they were going to break.

Yumi clenched her hands into fights as she continued to keep Dani back. S he felt powerless to protect Victoria, powerless to do anything. She dealt with Walker before and didn't end well. The Digimon as previously been dealt with we're not the type to even interfere.

Tora stood there eyes wide open unsure of what to do. Sure the option of fighting came to mind, but the voice in the back of her mind yielded her from taking a step forward. She already knew the others would refer to her as a chicken. Truthfully what was she suppose to do?

Kiva had the look of murder in her eyes as she stared down the warden ghost. Oh how she would enjoy taking him out herself. Wolfmon, while growling at GrowlmonX, could sense her desire to jump in but he couldn't allow her to do that. Without looking away from his prey slipped into their mental connection.

'_Kiva, stay back and let us deal with them. One wrong move and Victoria could have her life taken away.__'_

Wolfmon leapt at GrowlmonX when he moved in. Within seconds, the wolf Digimon had the dragon on the ground, both grappling trying to subdue the other. Growling and roaring could be heard as the two kept fighting

"Sunshine beam!" With no actual warning, Sunflowmon sent out a blinding flash as Tekkamon came to attack her. The entire alley was lit up like a Christmas tree, blinding everyone.

Walker let out a startled groan releasing Victoria from his grasp, causing her to stumble a bit before being grabbed by Ember and turned intangible.

"Damn!" Walker swore covering his eyes. "Get back now, both of you. We'll deal with them another time!" After the light died down he realized that their prey was long gone.

—

Yumi blinked her eyes after Ember and Youngblood managed to transport all of them away from the alley and into a somewhat quiet area. Things moved way too quickly for her to truly have a grasp on the situation.

"Everyone all right?" Ember asked as she did a quick assessment on Victoria's wounds. While the cut on her throat wasn't serious, getting it cleaned and bandaged was critical.

"For the most part."

"Do you realize how concerned mom and dad are going to be when they see the bandage around your neck?" Dani commented pointing to the white bandage Ember was applying.

"Yes and do you see what I meant about how concerned I am going to be if we keep you with us. That was nothing compared to what could really happen," Victoria retorted shifting a bit.

"Right now we just need to focus on the task at hand. No one is splitting up anymore," Kiva mentioned placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Right."

**A/N: I apologize for the massive wait, I really thought I would have had this up far sooner. Work and concentration really played a role in this. Also experienced a bad bout of depression the other day and I really couldn't focus. Nonetheless, here is the new chapter. Hope you all like it.**


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